TVGuide.com: Fans are thrilled that Allison Mack (Chloe) is back this season. With Lana no longer a regular character on the canvas, might the door open for a Clark/Chloe romance?
Darren Swimmer: Jimmy has asked Chloe to marry him. We’ll find out the answer to that question early on in the season. Chloe’s love for Clark will never go away, but [those two] as a couple this year is pretty unlikely. All the “Chlark” fans out there will have to keep waiting.
TVGuide.com: Chloe has always been Clark’s “go to” person when things get tough.
Swimmer: And that will continue. There are some changes ahead for her and some challenges she’s going to face. There are also some romantic twists she’ll deal with this year. She’s definitely not going to be wanting for a date — [but] it may not be Clark.
TVGuide.com: Will we continue to see Chloe’s meteor-freak powers?
Swimmer: She has powers, but they’ve changed. They won’t manifest in the same way that they did before.
TVGuide.com: Chloe has struck such a chord with viewers that there’s even fan fiction out there that has Lois dying and Chloe taking her cousin’s name so that she would wind up becoming the woman in Clark’s life.
Swimmer: Yes. There is that theory that Chloe is Lois, but she is not Lois. Lois is Lois, as crazy as that may seem. We hear the fans and we understand where that comes from. But unfortunately, it’s not the way that the show is going.
TVGuide.com: Are you influenced by fan response on the Internet?
Swimmer: We definitely hear what the fans say and we can’t help but be influenced by it, but I don’t think that we’re guided by it in the sense that we let it dictate anything, obviously. I don’t think that fans would necessarily want that either. But we read it and we’re in touch with what the fans are saying. They’re our core fans. I think sometimes when somebody says they don’t like something they still may find it entertaining, so we have to gauge how much of that is a response to the characters or a response to the way the story is being told.
TVGuide.com: Little touches like Chloe giving Jimmy a bowtie are a nice nod to fans who are familiar with the comic.
Swimmer: Yes. It’s a year of challenges that Jimmy’s going to have to go through. Chloe’s going to have to go through them. Clark will, too. It’s the year of “double identity.” That’s the theme. Clark’s starting to understand he’s got to have a double identity or he’s not going to be able to move on with what his destiny is.
TVGuide.com: Might we see Clark with trademark dark-rimmed glasses?
Swimmer: No. [Pauses] Well, we may, but it won’t be in the way that [you might expect].
TVGuide.com: We saw lots of Clark’s Kryptonian background last year with his cousin Kara, mother Lara and Uncle Jor-El. Will we be seeing more of that influence this year?
Swimmer: I think we’re moving away from the Kryptonian story. Last year we focused a lot on that and aspects of Clark’s past. Clark can’t escape his Kryptonian roots and that’s definitely going to come back and haunt him this season, but this year will be more about moving forward with his destiny as becoming Superman in a way that we’ve never done before.
TVGuide.com: Helen Slater, Dean Cain, Margot Kidder.… So many actors from other Superman film and TV adaptations have guest-starred on Smallville. Do you have a wish list for this season?
Swimmer: Well, there’s very few people left at this point [we haven't used]. We’d love to bring some of them back, but it’s too early to talk in terms of scheduling. We’re grateful to have had a chance to have all these great actors visit our show.
TVGuide.com: You’re going into Season 8. Does it feel like there’s no end in sight?
Swimmer: It’s too soon to say. Eventually, Clark is going to become Superman, but he still has a ways to go before that happens. As long as the show keeps going, we want to see [his journey] continue.
Filed under: News, Smallville, Spoilers | Tagged: smallville season 8 spoilers
Stumble It!
It practically literally made me sick. I just clicked on here and saw your blog preview, and saw that it was answers from Darren Swimmer, so I thought “OK, it falls under official interview stuff so I can view that” (I’m avoiding spoilers). But sweet Jesus. Apparently what it takes to get questions answered over at TV Guide is “see who has no life and can e-mail us the most whining questions full of inferiority complexes and jealousy”. I am NOT getting into this pissing match with them, I’m sick of it. Getting heard and getting attention shouldn’t be about who can be the biggest whining toddler, and if it is then screw it, I want no part of it.
Here was my drop-and-run post there:
“Oh my God. Enough already. Chloe fans e-mail and comment on the internet the most, we get it. But newsflash, not everyone loves her and thinks she is the be-all-end-all. We just don’t have to post 24/7/365 that we have other favorite characters we’d like to hear about. You’d think in show based on Clark Kent, you’d hear about what’s up with him first, followed by the canon Superman/DC characters, and so far and so on.
And another newsflash, despite what the constant multiple e-mails/comments you are getting attempt to make you believe, Erica Durance’s portrayal of Lois Lane on the show has a lot of fans who think she does a wonderful job. Fans that don’t go around insulting Allison Mack or her portrayal of Chloe just because their favorite happens to be Erica’s Lois, a common courtesy that you can see by reading these comments that is not extended to Erica and her portrayal on the show.
How ’bout a little less catering to fans who bash other actresses and character portrayals on the show, and a little more catering to fans of the show itself who would like to know equally about what is coming up for Clark, Lois, Jimmy, Oliver, Doomsday, Tess and Lana? Just a thought.”
I’ve already noticed a bit of a “OMG CHLOE 4-EVER” backlash online from people who previous to the last season either liked her or didn’t have a strong opinion, and I think it’s just going to keep increasing with crap like this popping up. Now they’re even starting to piss off Clark fans with all the fawning over her, and while I don’t agree with everything some of the die-hard Clark fans say, I respect ‘em and I know that they don’t take kindly to being given the backseat treatment.
I think Allison Mack is a wonderful actress, but the character of Chloe . . meh.
I’d like to know if Clark is going to do his own thinking and research this season. Will he begin to truly embrace his destiny? Or will it be stall, stall, stall again this season? Will he at least become a reporter at the DP and start investigating with Lois played by Erica Durance, all the while keeping his powers secret from her?
BTW Erica’s Lois Lane is phenomenal. She’s one of the main reasons I watch the show. It would be nice to watch all the episodes because she was in them.
Clark should start flying and pick up a few more powers. Will there be enough money in the special effects budget for that?
Will Clark and Jimmy have inklings of their future close friendship?
I don’t know that I want to see Clark in the full Superman outfit, but ripping his shirt and revealing the S would be cool.
I’m very excited about the development of secret identities. Hopefully this will mean more focus on Clark (the supposed main character) and his destiny.
More Clark questions. More Lois questions. It’s the 70th anniversary of the Clark Kent story — let’s celebrate that on Smallville.
Chloe.. Chloe.. Chloe.. why doesn’t the show change it’s name to Chloe Sullivan show.
I am sick with the way words are being put into Swimmer’s mouth and I hate his replies. Is this the same guy who sounded so enthusiastic about Clark, his destiny and about Lois and Clark working shoulder to shoulder at the Daily Planet?
Not everyone watches the show for Chloe. What do we need to do to make ourselves heard. Make 1,000 lame posts each day about how Chloe is stealing Lois’s life and Mack is pathetic and Chloe needs to die and Lois needs to become a blonde, a hacker and Clark’s doormat??
Sorry, we are not crazy, I don’t find myself sending a million hate mails to everyone and telling them and only Lois Lane has a right to live on this planet and all other girls should die. But does that mean we would never be heard by the TPTB??
Stop the nonsense please. We need to hear about Lois and Clark. Period.