Tom Welling Thought He Lost His Smallville Role To Jensen Ackles

What would Jensen Ackles have been like as Clark Kent in Smallville? According to Tom Welling, it nearly happened.

Tom Welling Was The Perfect Smallville Clark Kent

Looking back now, Smallville is one of the most beloved iterations of Superman, and Tom Welling is the only person anyone can imagine as Clark Kent in the series. So much so that Welling even revealed that Christopher Reeve, who appeared on the show as Dr Virgil Swan, thought he had been cast as the Man of Steel on the big screen.

“I remember in the end he says to me, ‘I’m really glad they chose you to be the next Superman.’ I was like, ‘Well, they didn’t,’” Welling told The Hollywood Reporter. “That’s when Brandon [Routh] had gotten the role [in the 2006 film Superman Returns]. And he said, ‘Well they should have.’ I get chills thinking about that.”

Despite the legendary actor anointing the Smallville lead as the chosen one, Welling himself wasn’t confident about his chances of landing the part – especially when he realised who he was competing against.

Tom Welling Wasn’t Interested In Smallville At First

In the year 2000, comic book properties weren’t in vogue. No one could scrub off the stench of 1997’s Batman & Robin, with actors becoming apprehensive of signing up for these roles. Even the creators, Miles Millar and Alfred Gough knew Smallville was a tough sell, as many networks had all turned down the opportunity to air the show.

It was difficult getting Tom Welling to read for the part initially. It wasn’t as if he was a big-name actor then and had the luxury of picking his roles. Even by his own admission, he was hitting the audition circuit daily. However, he turned down an audition for Clark Kent when the chance first came around. “This show Smallville came along, and they weren’t releasing the script,” he said to The Hollywood Reporter. “They just wanted me to audition. My manager at the time says, ‘That either means they don’t have a script, or it’s not very good.’ We turned it down.”

After some convincing and a watertight NDA, Welling met up with the team and realised the show wasn’t about capes and cowls – but a coming-of-age story about a young man with extraordinary powers. Suddenly, his interest in the part was piqued when he knew he wouldn’t have to wear tights.

Tom Welling Thought Jensen Ackles Would Be Clark Kent

One of the first parts cast on the show was that of Lana Lang. Tom Welling explained how he had to do a screen test with Kristin Kreuk before he received an offer. Yet, his nerves took over when he saw whom he was competing against.

Kristin had already been cast, so I walked into the waiting room, and it was me and Jensen Ackles, who I’d seen on TV before but didn’t know,” Welling revealed to The Hollywood Reporter. “I was like, ‘This guy is a real actor. I’ll never get it.’”

Ultimately, Tom Welling was wrong, as he beat Jensen Ackles to the part. Of course, Ackles would have a role in Smallville, as he played Jason Teague during the show’s fourth season. It would also be the start of the Supernatural actor’s close association with comic book properties, as he would go on to voice Jason Todd/Red Hood and Batman in animated movies while appearing as Soldier Boy in The Boys.

More recently, he has been linked with the role of the live-action Dark Knight in the upcoming The Brave and the Bold, directed by Andy Muschietti. Nonetheless, the part of Kal-El is the white whale that he never managed to catch.

While discussing the casting choice of Tom Welling over Jensen Ackles on Talk Ville Podcast Clips, Michael Rosenbaum (who played Lex Luthor on Smallville) said he believes that “You only think of Tom as the role. He just did. So, I don’t know… I can’t imagine anyone playing the role. But if someone else played the role… maybe I don’t know if someone was Lex Luther, it’d be different. Maybe he’d be the best Lex.”

Tell us, do you think Tom Welling was the perfect choice for Superman in Smallville, or would Jensen Ackles have been better?