In a new interview, My Adventures with Superman producer Josie Campbell discussed Lois Lane's plot twist in the first season's finale.
Throughout the season, two looming figures existed in the background — one on the superhero side of things and one on the civilian.
Superman was actively learning about, and eventually meeting, a general, who was out to get him, while Lois often spoke to Clark Kent of her demanding father. In the DC show's season finale, the characters are revealed to be one and the same.
Granted, this twist had been teased previously, but it still came as a shock to the characters, and to some viewers who may not have picked up on the clues throughout the season.
Lois Lane's Finale General Twist Explained
In an interview with The Comics Cube, My Adventures with Superman producer Josie Campbell spoke about how many people may have guessed that the general was Lois Lane's father.
Campbell explained that in telling a story where many fans will already know the twist, "there's two things to satisfy," one being the fans who do know, the other being those who don't:
"There’s two things to satisfy and one is, if you’ve never seen the show before, it needs to be a satisfying twist of who he’s related to. And if you do know, we need to actually play off the satisfaction of, 'Well, we know. So, here’s the episode.' We get to play with that. So, that’s the - spoiler alert - that’s the finale."
She discussed how she saw this firsthand, as one executive they pitched to "really knew Superman," while the other was shocked by the twist:
"We got to see both reactions, because, when we really originally pitched this, one of the executives we could shoot really knew Superman, and one of them was coming in fresh, and we got the fresh one. They were like, 'My God, he’s related to who? Oh, that’s so big!'"
Campbell discussed how they knew the context of the reveal would be following "two episodes before, which are so big, and lore, and plot-heavy," so they knew the surprise would have to fall within that:
"And so we knew with that final episode that, especially coming off of the two episodes before, which are so big, and lore, and plot-heavy, that like the best way to go about it is like, the people are going to be surprised, they’re gonna be surprised, and there’s going to be kids watching, there’s gonna be young people, who are people who’ve never really been into Superman before watching. So they’re gonna be surprised by that."
Plus, to garner both reactions out of both groups of fans (those who figured it out and those who didn't), the creators had "fun and games" with it, dragging out the reveal and the figuring it out from both Clark's and the General's perspectives:
"But then, we spend the episode playing with that expectation of, 'Will he figure it out? What do you look like without glasses, Kent? I think I hate you, Kent? Why do you seem familiar, Kent?’'And that stuff is fun for those who are in the know. So, it’s trying to be like, 'Well, we have the surprise but the real fun is, once you know who it is now, we get to have fun and games with him. Now, we get to make the jokes and have fun with this reveal.'"
She then discussed the emotional complexity of how the General handled the reveal and its aftermath — or, more notably, how he "didn't decide to deal with the aftermath:"
"You know, the general is a character that lives off of secrecy and conspiracies. And… he’s decided… he did not kill Superman, but then he also didn’t decide to like deal with the aftermath, which I think is like him in a nutshell… He loves Lois, he’s doing all of this because he loves his family, he loves Lois, but he can’t actually emotionally deal with being there for Lois."
Campbell finished by discussing the poignance of this conversation for "people who have family in the military, or people who have estranged father figures," and the further juxtaposition of "tragedy" and "comedy" in how the twist played out:
"So, of course he made the right decision, but then he can’t follow up on it, and that’s a thing that people who have family in the military, or people who have estranged father figures deal with, and it’s something that we enjoyed playing with. So you’ve got, again, you’ve got the comedy of him like trying to figure it out, but then you’ve also got the tragedy of even when he’s doing the right thing, he’s still leaving his daughter behind."
More Comics-Inspired Twists in Season 2?
Given Campbell's willingness to pursue a twist that wouldn't be a twist to much of the show's fanbase, perhaps there is more like that to come in a future season.
Noticeably, Lex Luthor did not show up as a villain for Superman in the first season, and he is arguably Superman's most well-known foe.
Furthermore, while many are familiar with the story of Krypton, to an extent, the audience has also been learning alongside Superman. Maybe the show will pull the rug out from under viewers, and give something everyone thought they knew a different twist?
Again, Lex Luthor is known for his schemes and plots — any potential story including the villain will definitely have twists, some obvious and some not-so.
My Adventures with Superman is available for streaming on Max.
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