Michael Cudlitz Joins ‘Superman & Lois’ Season 3 As Lex Luthor
If you needed any more evidence that ‘Superman & Lois‘ was on a very different Earth to the rest of the Arrowverse, Season 3 will have a new Lex Luthor, in the interesting shape of former ‘Walking Dead’ star Michael Cudlitz.
The series follows The Man of Steel aka Clark Kent (Tyler Hoechlin, “Teen Wolf”) and comic books’ most famous journalist, Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch, “Grimm”), as they come face to face with one of their greatest challenges ever – dealing with all the stress, pressures and complexities that come with being working parents in today’s society. Complicating the already daunting job of raising two boys, Clark and Lois must also concern themselves with whether or not their sons Jonathan (Michael Bishop, “Spin”) and Jordan (Alexander Garfin, “The Peanuts Movie”) have inherited their father’s Kryptonian superpowers as they grow older.
This latest iteration of Lex Luthor is known to the world as the visionary billionaire behind LexCorp, but secretly, the criminal underworld knows who Lex truly is: a brutal psychopath who terrorizes anyone he crosses paths with. When Lex debuts this season, it’s been years since he dropped out of the public eye and he’s re-emerging hellbent on correcting a personal injustice by enacting revenge on the two people he feels have wronged him — Superman and Lois Lane.
There are a number of “Lexs” kicking around across the DC TV & Film universes at this point. The role was played by Jon Cryer in the main Arrowverse, mainly in ‘Supergirl’, whilst Titus Welliver took on the part in the latest season of ‘Titans’. The last person to portray the role on film was Jesse Eisenberg in the “Snyderverse” movies. At some point later this month, we’re expecting a big announcement from James Gunn and Peter Safran, the new heads of DC Studios, with some more details about their all-new cinematic universe, which will likely have another new actor in the role of Lex.
Michael Cudlitz starred in ‘The Walking Dead’ as Abraham Ford, and although he was (rather brutally!) murdered, he later returned behind the camera in later seasons to direct a number of episodes. His other acting work includes ‘Band Of Brothers’, ‘Southland’, ‘Clarice’, and ‘Invincible’.
In addition to Cudlitz joining the show, Season 3 will introduce Michael Bishop, who takes over the role of Jonathan Kent, replacing Jordan Elsass who opted not to continue with the part. There are clearly some ‘Walking Dead’ fans over at ‘Superman & Lois’ as another former TWD star, Chad L. Coleman, is set to play a guest role this season as Bruno Mannheim. The returning cast includes Dylan Walsh as Sam Lane, Erik Valdez as Kyle Cushing, Emmanuelle Chriqui as Lana Lang-Cushing, Sofia Hasmik as Chrissy Beppo, Wolé Parks as John Henry Irons and Tayler Buck as Natalie Lane Irons.
‘Superman & Lois‘ Seasons 1 & 2 are available on BBC iPlayer in the UK. Season 3 premieres March 14, 2023, on The CW in the USA, and is likely to be Summer 2023 in the UK. If you want to keep track of this or any other show, you can add them via our Never Miss system, and you’ll be notified when it gets a UK premiere date.
