The Arrowverse has been home to many villains, including Jon Cryer’s Lex Luther in Supergirl—but now, the big bad is getting a new actor to debut in DC’s Superman & Lois.
While the characters of the hit show were once part of the Arrowverse, the series was recently retconned to exist in its own separate reality. The move makes sense, given that most of the other CW shows have ended, with The Flash being the last to retire next year.
Since Superman & Lois is an Arrowverse spin-off that's not technically set in that shared universe, rumors have indicated how the project has been casting for a new version of Lex Luther—a villain previously brought to life by Jon Cryer in Supergirl, who has now spoken out on the matter.
A New Lex Luthor is on His Way
The whispers that Superman & Lois is searching for a new Lex Luthor have now made it over to Jon Cryer - who was behind Supergirl's take on the character.
The actor seemingly confirmed on Twitter that he is “not going to be playing him this time around:”
“… since this news is about a new Lex Luthor casting call for Superman & Lois that means I’m not going to be playing him this time around. Godspeed to the guy who gets it! It’s a terrific show.”
Previously, while speaking at Fan Expo Dallas, Tyler Hoechlin, who plays Superman on the Arrowverse spin-off series, commented on if he’d like to go up against Lex Luthor.
In his response, Hoechlin said that it would be “ridiculous not to hope to go up against Lex Luther,” while he also specifically name-dropped Jon Cryer’s version of the character:
“I mean, I feel like it’d be ridiculous not to hope to go up against Lex Luthor… So that would be awesome, that would be so cool working with Jon [Cryer], who I’ve met briefly once or twice. That would be a lot of fun. So in other words, I think it would be a blast to do that. That’s one of the, obviously, the greatest rivalries in storytelling. So it would be very fun.”
Tyler Hoechlin Gets to Fight Lex
Lex Luthor was most recently seen in Titans, where he was portrayed by Titus Welliver. Interestingly enough, Lex only stuck around for a single episode, with the creatives by the show indicating that Warner Bros. (WB) would only let them use the big bad in a limited capacity.
If that’s true, then what’s the difference with Superman & Lois? Why would WB let that project use him for more than one episode and not Titans?
Of course, fans don’t quite know how big a role he’d play in the upcoming season—it could be for only a single episode or something more substantial like Jon Cryer’s time in Supergirl.
But who might play him? Some previous fan-castings include names such as Jason Isaacs or Jon Hamm, though, those names might be a little too big.
Either way, viewers are likely ecstatic to be getting another Lex adaptation. Could James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new DCU have a spot for their own version of the character as well?
Only time will tell. Until then, however, fans will have at least one more season of Superman & Lois to look forward to.
The series is rumored to air the first episode of its third season on January 18, 2023.
