In case you’ve not been paying attention recently, the ten year run of Smallville is coming to an end next Friday with a two hour blockbuster finale. As much of a bummer as this is for fans of the show, it turns out the cast, led by Tom Welling, is pretty broken up about it too.

Welling, who plays Clark Kent on the show, spoke to Zap2it about the end of Smallville and dropped some clues about what to expect as the series finishes its run.

“I think people will feel fulfilled, but it’s going to be bittersweet,” he said. “If someone has been watching the show for 10 years, it’s coming to an end, and that’s never a fun thing . . .You always want more, but the reality is that it can’t go on forever.”

You do always want more. That’s for sure. Welling went on to explain that they ended up filming the finale in a rather different way than other series.

“We shot the actual finale as our third-to-last episode,” he said. “We shot two more episodes, then shot the first part of the finale last. It gave us the opportunity to take a look at what would be the last image of the show in post-production and make any changes or adaptations to it. It didn’t necessarily take the emotional pressure off us, but the time pressure.”

Speaking about filming the very end, he said, “As we were shooting it, everyone’s senses were heightened. People were flying up from L.A. [to Vancouver, where the show has been made] to supervise and make sure everyone who had to make a decision was there. Everybody was just really excited, and the energy level went up.”

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With the last season of Smallville swiftly moving along, The Flickcast decided to talk to one of the most convoluted characters to reside in the sleepy town, Tess Mercer. She’s been a good girl, bad girl, and somewhere in between- so in essence a real woman.

Popping on the scene as the mysterious heir and CEO to LuthorCorp in Season 8, she’s since been through many tenuous trials. She’s fought to save humanity, albeit killing a few in her way.

She’s survived multiple deaths, multiple kryptonite-fueled personalities of Clark Kent, and multiple conspiracies. The best is yet to come.

The Flickcast: You were first cast in Season 8 of Smallville, did you think the show would continue for many more seasons?

Cassidy Freeman: I thought this was a one year job. I mean they signed me on for three, so they had me if they wanted me for three. But I was told maybe a year and every year we get renewed. It’s almost like a roller coaster ride of a path. I feel like the end of this series has had such strength to it.

I mean, I’ve watched it all in wanting to get familiar with the show and I’m not saying that just because I’m in it, but I think that they’ve taken some chances and we’re more grown-up and I really, really enjoy being in it and watching it.

TF: Tess Mercer’s walked as much on the side of light as that of dark. What are your thoughts on playing this complex character?

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During our ongoing investigative reporting into the final season of Smallville, we knew it was integral to speak with the brains behind the operation: Executive Producers Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson. Over the course of the last decade, Smallville has shifted from its one-off episode style to an ongoing mystery into the world of Krypton‘s favorite son. This season the mysteries will be resolved.

While the Greeks had Zeus and Athena, in modern times we have our own mythology in the form of superheroes. Like epic poems passed down myths, Smallville illuminates Superman’s origins with dramatic flare. After fighting Lex Luthor, Brainiac, and Zod, you’d think Clark Kent would get a nice vacay. Instead, his hero’s journey will only really begin after the final episode is over.

Yesterday we spoke with Souders and Peterson about episode 200, Kristen Kruek and more. This time we’re talking with the producers about Clark’s legendary journey thus far and what they have in store for our Man of Steel. Note: This interview may contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.

The Flickcast: Smallville’s plot structure has evolved from being a “Freak of the Week” structure to having an ongoing mythology. Can you describe why the choice was made?

Kelly Souders: Well, I think anytime you’re on the air for that long, you have to reinvent it. If not for just that we’d all get bored if we kept doing the same thing, but so that the fans have something new to grow with too. I mean ten years, you change a lot. We change a lot, each fan is going to change.

I think it’s evolving has a lot to do with it surviving. I think we tried to make the show as organic to real life as possible. If we don’t all change, find out new things about ourselves, or try to make changes within ourselves- the same thing would happen (to us) and we’d kind of stall out.

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With the new season of Smallville fast approaching this Friday on the CW, The Flickcast took the opportunity to sit down with Justin Hartley, aka the Green Arrow. He was laid-back, insightful, and of course easy on the eyes.

DC Comic’s Green Arrow has made headlines recently for taking care of bad guys anti-hero style. Smallville‘s Oliver Queen is no different, albeit he had a certain explosive panache when he nixed Lex Luthor. The perceptive and pensive Justin Hartley had much to say about his character’s path towards enlightenment this season.

The Flickcast: What excites you the most about getting the green light another, final season?

Justin Hartley: The final season, we’re excited. I think I speak for everyone when I say that. The cool thing about this year, and I’m sure you’ve heard this before, is that there’s all these…little tidbits that haven’t quite been sewn up yet.

It’s interesting because usually they go, “Well we’re going to tie it up next year or at the end of it,” and they plan on tying it up whenever. But it’s like go-time so they kind of have to tie it up now. So hopefully we’ll get, maybe even one of those (questions answered) every episode. They’re doing it the right way.

It’s really cool, especially for all those people who have been watching the show for a long time, that we did find out that we had a final season and then we’re going to shoot it. Instead of at the end of nine finding out that there is no final season. So we have the opportunity to do that- which is pretty awesome.

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This week marks a pretty big event for the gang over at Smallville as they encounter the Justice Society of America for the first time. Granted, this isn’t the first time other DC superheroes have made it onto the show, with characters like Green Arrow, Aquaman, Black Canary, and others joining in the fray from time to time. With all those characters making appearances in the past, there’s still something even more special about this week’s two-hour episode.

While this season has brought up some interesting plots including Braniac, the Legion, Metallo, and others, this coming event, written by Geoff Johns, seems to take the cake. From Kryptonsite:

A man named Sylvester Pemberton tracks down Chloe (Allison Mack) and tells her he knows about her team of superheroes and needs their help. However, before he can explain who he is, he is attacked and killed by Icicle (guest star Wesley Macinnes). Clark (Tom Welling) and Chloe’s (Allison Mack) investigation leads Clark to the former headquarters of the Justice Society of America where he meets up with Nelson AKA Dr. Fate (guest star Brent Stait), Carter Hall AKA Hawkman (guest star Michael Shanks) and Courtney AKA Star Girl (guest star Britt Irvin).

Courtney pleads with Hawkman and Dr. Fate to help her catch the killer that is targeting their group but they are reluctant to resume their duties as superheroes. Clark, John Jones (guest star Phil Morris), Green Arrow (Justin Hartley) and Chloe team up to help the JSA stop Icicle before he murders another member of the group. Meanwhile, Lois (Erica Durance) receives a package from a mysterious agency called Checkmate, run by Amanda Waller (guest star Pam Grier).

Check out two exclusive clips from Smallville: Absolute Justice and be sure to watch the entire two-hour event this Friday at 8/7 Central on the CW.

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The animation departments of DC and Warner brothers has been on quite a hot streak since last year’s release of Justice League: New Frontier. Their releases of both Wonder Woman and Green Lantern films over the last year were both critically well reviewed and did well in the stores. Since New Frontier, this project is the first story that was taken almost directly from a published storyline, originally written by Jeph Loeb.

The great part about Jeph Loeb’s Public Enemies is he teamed up with artist Ed McGuinness, who is best known for his animated art style. This made the announcement of the direct-to-DVD feature all the more exciting. Not only was the source material well done, but casting director Andrea Romano was also able to bring back the dream team of DC voice actors to return to characters they helped make immortal.

Tim Daly, Kevin Conroy, and Clancy Brown all returned to the roles of Superman, Batman, and Lex Luthor, respectively, for the first time since the Animated Adventures of Superman and Batman nearly 9 years ago. Aside from the “dream team”, some other great names were added to the project, making this an epic animated feature.

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Much like the rest of the universe of comic and TV fans out there, we have had a love/hate relationship with Smallville. The first few seasons were fun, but then the show began to lose it’s focus, along with a number of dedicated fans. Last season, that all seemed to change with the move of the show’s setting from Smallville to Metropolis, and more specifically, the Daily Planet.

At the end of last season, one of the big cliffhangers that was thrown into the last hour was that of Lois Lane (played by Erica Durance) disappearing into the future after stumbling across a Legion of Superheroes ring that one of the Legionaires left on their last visit.

Check out a new clip from Friday night’s season premiere in which Chloe (Allison Mack) and Clark (Tom Welling) discuss Lois’s disappearance–and reappearance–from the present time. This clip also alludes to a new villain for this season, which we will have a clip of tomorrow. Don’t forget to catch Smallville in it’s 9th season this Friday on The CW and 8PM/7PM Central.

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