As Supergirl prepares to fly faster than a speeding bullet from CBS to the CW, the network has announced that Everybody Wants Some! star Tyler Hoechlin has been cast as Superman/Clark Kent, the first live-action television incarnation of the Man of Steel since Smallville starring Tom Welling went off the air in 2011. As previously announced, Superman will make his debut on the DC Television universe, which also includes The Flash, Arrow, and Legends Of Tomorrow, at the start of Supergirl‘s second season when he visits Kara in National City.
“Greg [Berlanti] and I have wanted to work with Tyler for ages, so this worked out perfectly because Tyler is Superman,” said Andrew Kreisberg, executive producer of Supergirl. “We are so thrilled and humbled to add another amazing actor to the legacy of this iconic character.”
Hoechlin most recently was seen starring in Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!, and will soon appear in the British action-thriller Stratton as well as the sports dramedy Undrafted. His credits include Road To Perdition, Hall Pass, Solstice and Teen Wolf. He’s repped by UTA, Management 360, and attorney Todd Rubinstein.
The decision to include Superman as a major part of Supergirl‘s roster of characters (he is briefly shown in flashback on the Supergirl pilot) is something of a change in policy for DC Comics’ television properties. Kreisberg, who co-created The Flash, Arrow, Supergirl and Legends Of Tomorrow, has been candid in past interviews about the fact that Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman were off limits to the CW’s DC-related TV shows. That seems to have changed as part of the recent reorganization at Warner Bros, which saw management of the studio’s ongoing DC Universe films reshuffled in response to the muted critical and audience reaction to Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice.
Hoechlin will be the sixth actor to portray the last son of Krypton on a live-action television series following George Reeves, John Haymes Newton, Gerard Christopher, Dean Cain, and Tom Welling.
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