DC fans have been pretty spoiled when it comes to Superman actors—there hasn’t really been a dud in the bunch. Each one brought something unique to the cape. Christopher Reeve had the heart. Brandon Routh brought the charm. Henry Cavill delivered the raw power. Tom Welling gave us the quiet kindness. Tyler Hoechlin? Pure dad energy. But Dean Cain? In the ‘90s hit Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, he somehow combined all of the above—and made it look easy.
But imagine a world where the ’90s Superman wasn’t Dean Cain—but Kevin Sorbo? Yeah, that Kevin Sorbo! The one who swung a sword around in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. According to Cain himself, it almost happened. DC fans, count your lucky Kryptonian stars.
On Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum, Dean Cain dropped the details on his journey to becoming the Man of Steel in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, the 1993 TV series that redefined the hero for a new generation. And apparently, it wasn’t a done deal from day one. “How many times did I audition for Lois & Clark?” Cain recalled. “I was the first person that the producers saw for the role. They were like, it’s Superman. And I was like, that’s for television. It’s going to suck, right? We’re not going to have the money.”
Yup, Cain wasn’t sold at first either. That changed quickly after reading the script. “So I went and read the script that night and I was like, oh, wow, this is different. I like this take. I understand this take on this character.”
And audiences did too. Lois & Clark was the first live-action Superman project that leaned into the Clark Kent of it all—the humanity, the awkwardness, the guy who just wants to be loved. Dean Cain nailed it. He wasn’t trying to out-cool Gerard Christopher or out-noble Christopher Reeve. His Superman felt like your charming next-door neighbour—if your neighbour could fly and see through your underwear.
Cain continued, “When I went in there to do for the callback, there was nine actors that I recognized. Was all beautiful looking, all like Superman, Superman, Superman… Then I started getting pared down, pared down. I was probably there six times.”
That’s when it came down to two guys: Dean Cain and Kevin Sorbo. “There was two guys that go on a network for Superman. It was myself and Kevin Sorbo. Wow. And Kevin, blonde hair, I was like, guy looks like Hercules. I thought, okay, I got a good shot here. Just based on the looks.”
Good call, because while Kevin Sorbo could lift a car like Superman, Cain brought something way harder to fake—heart. His chemistry with Teri Hatcher? Electric. “The one girl that I hadn’t auditioned with was Teri Hatcher,” Cain said. Didn’t matter. Their banter became TV gold.
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman might’ve had cheesy effects and Saturday morning cartoon logic, but the magic came from its leads. Cain’s Superman wasn’t perfect, but he was real. And in the ‘90s, that was all we needed.
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