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Michael Cudlitz Talks Lex Luthor, Series Finale (Exclusive)

It’s the official beginning of the end for The CW’s popular Arrowverse as the fourth and final season of the super-series Superman & Lois takes off. We pick up on the cliffhang of the third seasoner (as early as June 2023), the opener explodes with an interstellar exchange between Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) and the monstrous Doomsday that is a triumph of visual effects.

Back on Earth: Supes’ wife Lois (Elizabeth Tulloch) is also in crisis: Lex by Michael Cudlitz Luthor is furious that her reporting led to his wrongful imprisonment and is determined to make her pay in the most tragic way possible. Here, The walking dead vet teases what else awaits us when the series returns. Plus, watch an exclusive sneak peek from the October 7 premiere above.

At the San Diego Comic-Con panel, Bitsie, Tyler and (showrunners) Todd Helbing and Brent Fletcher were absolutely thrilled to work with you. And then I saw your IG post about how this was one of the jobs you’ll remember forever. What was special about it?

Michael Cudlitz: Oh my God. First of all: Well, I don’t even know if it’s a “first” but it is Lex LuthorCome on. (Laughs) But look, when I came on the show, it was a very successful show. I couldn’t have been better welcomed by Bitsie and Tyler, the creative team and the rest of the entire cast. This rarely happens to this extent. That being said, I had a similar experience when I first started The walking deadso it just makes everything better. You just start in a better place. Everyone is relaxed, everyone is confident in what they are doing. There is a certain level of trust. And from a creative perspective, they kind of let me take what they had written and just keep going.

Todd Helbing, Elizabeth Tulloch, Tyler Hoechlin and Brent Fletcher of Superman & Lois with host Damian Holbrook at SDCC 2024

Todd Helbing, Damian Holbrook, Elizabeth Tulloch, Tyler Hoechlin and Brent Fletcher at San Diego Comic-Con 2024 (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)

This is a different kind of Lex Luthor. He is more down to earth.

This is a character that is so well known And They’re known in different ways depending on what segment of the fandom you fall into – how old you are, what graphic novels or comics you read, what TV shows you’ve watched, what movies you’ve seen. So there’s a long lineage of Lex. He did very well and crashed and burned himself a few times. When I came on this show, it was just amazing and a real gift that they trusted me and said, “Let’s see what you think.”

It’s almost like a basic version of Lex.

I wouldn’t reject that. I think the specific problem Lex has, the fact that it’s so close to him and his family and not an “idea” he’s fighting for, is that there’s the hatred of Superman and the hatred of aliens. He is literally everything he hates or claims to hate. And that really brings it to a personal level, the story we’re telling. People have said he’s a much darker Lex, and I would argue that he’s incredibly passionate about what he’s fighting for and willing to do anything to right those wrongs.

I said he’s probably the most pained Lex we’ve ever seen.

Oh, 100 percent. One hundred percent. Everything comes from pain.

And that makes him human.

Well, we hope it’s something that works. Of course, over the course of the season we will deal with the defeat he suffered. We saw last season what brought him to her doorstep, literally and figuratively. And we will take this to its logical conclusion.

Katie Yu/The CW

The season adapts the comic story The Death of SupermanSo does this mean we’ll be seeing a lot of Lex vs. Lois?

I want to make sure I don’t get involved in anything that could be spoiling for the audience. (Laughs) But yes, absolutely. In his eyes, she is the cause (of his imprisonment). So his anger is refocused, but believe me, he also has problems with Superman.

Given that Lex also blames Lois and Superman for destroying his relationship with his daughter, it begs the question of how big of a threat Lex poses to the Kent children (Michael Bishop and Alex Garfin).

It’s safe to say that Lex has a problem with the whole family. (Laughs)

Colin Bentley/The CW

And what can you tell me about his new ally, Amanda McCoy? Because she appears in the first episode and I found her fascinating but also very seemingly tortured.

Yvonne Chapman, who plays Amanda, is incredible. I won’t go into that other than to say that she is an integral part of Lex’s world and that comic book fans will remember her. This is not the Arrowverse. We have our own world and within that world we borrow elements from many other worlds to create it. And they’re all true and they all feed off of each other and complement each other, even from where we met Lex last season, with a full head of red hair, which is very much in keeping with the way we see him meet 1940. So we’re sort of playing with this evolution of Lex and I think audiences will find it incredibly, incredibly satisfying.

And Amanda has a lot of power…

Luther Corp was still active when he was in prison. And I can say this: Amanda ran Luther Corp for him.

Have you heard of or spoken to previous Lexes?

I had (Smallville‘s) Michael Rosenbaum previously at conferences and in passing. We have a lot of mutual friends and I interviewed him while filming his podcast Clarice in Toronto. And we had a fantastic, fantastic interview. None of this was planned yet, obviously it had been two years. I know Jon Cryer said something nice to appease fans who were upset about him not moving Supergirl), but I don’t think Michael was actually interviewed or specifically asked about it. Look, we who do this understand that these are different worlds, different actors and different places in time. Nobody got fired, so I was able to take out Lex. It’s a different Lex and a different world. I can only imagine that Michael will be very pleased.

Shane Harvey/The CW

Lex also brings a very cool accomplice in Doomsday. But can anyone control this monster?

I would say (Lex) feels that at some point Doomsday becomes an extension of himself and in some ways a surrogate child who does his bidding. We’ll see how this plays out. We created the Frankenstein monster, but what did we really create?

You mentioned how each person comes to these characters based on their generation and the content they consume. What helped you most with your Lex?

There are some things that are constant about Lex, and I think Brian Azzarello has a wonderful graphic novel series (called ” Lex Luthor: Man of Steel) literally on Lex and from Lex’s perspective. I have gained a tremendous amount of insight from this, at least as far as the basis of my Lex psychology is concerned. It’s based on someone who is an expert in the field and he really summed up and summed up Lex’s perspective beautifully through his narration. The whole thing was an incredible, incredible experience.

And I honestly can’t wait to share this with the CW audience and ultimately with the world, which I think showrunners Todd and Brent are doing an incredible job with. In most cases I say, “Tell your story the way you want to tell it and don’t worry about the fans because the fans have chosen something you love and now you’re taking them in.” a journey.” And in this case, I’m kind of bending that because they did what they wanted to do – the show is ending – so they had enough time to end it the way they wanted to end it. But they were Despite it I am aware of what the fans expect and expect. And I feel like the way the show ends did an incredible amount of fan service, bringing together loose ends, leaving open things that should be left open, and just taking them on a fantastic journey .

I saw the finale and it is incredible. I was also lucky throughout the series that I directed and was very, very happy with it. And I got to work with some other actors that I couldn’t work with when I played Lex. So I was able to really work with, I think, the entire cast. And the fans will…let’s just say we don’t want to sing them with Tony Soprano. (Laughs)

Thank God! Now, before you go, I need to know… You were a recurring guest star on ” Beverly Hills 90210 at that time And You were also a construction worker on the show’s team? How come?!

OK. Look, I’m glad you brought this up. Now I’m going to bend your brain. I was the construction coordinator Beverly Hills 9021o while I was on the show while pursuing my career. I actually booked A river flows through it while I was doing it too, so I had to take a little time off. I had to go. But with all the other jobs I did in LA, I bounced back and forth between construction and acting jobs. And then after that Band of brothersI was able to leave the building. I have been a member of the IATSE union for 14 years, a construction coordinator and prop maker. Oh, and while I was at it Beverly Hills 9021o As Construction Coordinator, Todd Helbing was Production Assistant! Todd brought lunch to the main cast. (Laughs)

Superman & LoisFourth and last season premiere, Monday, October 7, 8/7c, The CW

By Jasper

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