Why Kristin Kreuk Left Smallville After Season 7

Summary

• Kristin Kreuk left Smallville after season 7 due to the end of her contract and the show’s shift in focus towards Lois Lane’s relationship with Clark.
• Kreuk returned for 5 episodes in season 8 to tie up Lana Lang’s storyline and provide closure to her relationship with Clark.
• Kreuk is open to returning as Lana in a possible Smallville animated sequel, showing continued interest in the beloved character.

Kristin Kreuk starred in the DC Universe series Smallville for eight seasons before departing the show. The actor was only 18 when she first joined the series as Lana Lang, who was featured in some of Smallville‘s most rewatchable episodes as Clark’s longtime crush and eventual love interest. However, as the series ventured further into the Superman mythos, the romance between her character and Clark had to end. It became necessary for the show to shift Clark’s romantic relationship instead to one with Lois Lane, played by Erica Durance.

Like Sam Jones III’s Pete Ross and many other Smallville characters, Lana Lang left the series early. Kristin Kreuk, a Canadian actor from Vancouver, has continued to work in the industry ever since. She made a few forays into movies with a small role in Eurotrip and the titular lead in Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. Following her tenure on Smallville, Kreuk also starred in Beauty and the Beast and led the CBC drama Burden of Truth. However, this continued acting career may make the question of why Kreuk left Smallville all the more pertinent for invested fans.

Kristin Kreuk’s Contract Ended After Smallville Season 7

Michael Rosenbaum And John Glover Also Left The Series At This Time

After season 7, three main characters left Smallville. Much of this can be explained away by story reasons, and there were also contractual obligations that, for several performers, ended after this time. However, understanding Michael Rosenbaum’s leaving Smallville helps to provide a little more insight here. In addition to ending contracts, the two main showrunners who had been with the series from the beginning, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, left Smallville after season 7. As a result, the show faced a behind-the-scenes overhaul that seemed the right time for some of its performers to leave.

The opening credits of season 8 show how much the series changed: Justin Hartley as Oliver Queen, Sam Witwer as Davis Bloome, and Cassidy Freeman as Tess Mercer were added or elevated to notable roles, and the show became about something different. Moving largely to Metropolis, Smallville evolved into something much more akin to the Superman comic books in season 8, and this seemed a perfect time for Kristin Kreuk to leave the series to pursue other opportunities. With her contract ending, Kreuk chose to move on.

Kristin Kreuk Returned For 5 Episodes Of Smallville Season 8 But Had Moved On

Lana Lang’s Return Was Just To Tie Up Loose Ends

Speaking with METRO all the way back in 2008, Kreuk noted that Smallville had been so much of her life, but that she was ready to do something else. With humility, the actor expressed her desire to try other things with her career. She said: “there were things I couldn’t do due to the schedule on Smallville. Lana has changed so much since the first season so she was always fun to play. I just wanted to try something else. It’s not that I was bored with the show.“

Kreuk’s return in season 8 felt strange to some viewers. It seemed that the series, now under a new creative team, wanted to create a satisfying departure for the character without diminishing the significance of her past relationship with Clark. Imbued with powers of her own, Lana eventually absorbs Kryptonite, rendering her as harmful to Clark. As a result, she leaves town at the end of episode 14, never to return to the series again, to keep Clark safe and allow him to pursue his relationship with Lois.

Why Kristin Kreuk Turned Down A Lana Lang Return In Smallville’s Finale

Michael Rosenbaum And Allison Mack Returned For The Series Finale

Kristin Kreuk did not return for the Smallville series finale. Speaking with TVLine in 2010, she explained that “[t]he show has changed so much, it would be weird for [Lana] to come back. She was from a different Smallville time.” The actor stated she did not receive an offer to return, but did note that she felt certain if she had expressed interest, the showrunners would have had her. Still, forcing an appearance by Lana seemed unnatural to Kreuk, who believed it would undo some of what she saw as an effective ending for the character.

More recently, during a Q&A panel at Superman Celebration, Kreuk was asked about the matter again. Noting the importance of the Lois and Clark relationship, Kreuk felt that Clark’s moving on did not diminish her own character’s journey: “I really struggle with the idea that one woman replaces another woman, and I struggle with the idea that these women’s lives don’t continue on, and they aren’t full and beautiful lives.” Having moved on from the series, it seemed she only wished for the most effective stories for the remaining characters.

With a conclusion in place for Lana, featuring her in the series finale would only add conflict or tension where it didn’t belong. Kreuk’s character arc had ended, with the actor stating, “I wanted her to keep living the life that she had gone off to live, and I didn’t want to bring her back into the world.” Adding an additional appearance could only undo what they had worked so hard to establish during the series’ run.

Kristin Kreuk Is Open To Returning As Lana In A Possible Smallville Season 11

Michael Rosenbaum And Tom Welling Have Been Working On An Animated Sequel

Kreuk is open to return to Smallville if the proposed animated sequel series ever moves forward. At a recent Superman Celebration event, the actor noted that “[t]he boys have been working on this animated thing for a million years now,“ expressing her own interest in returning. There have been few major public updates on the sequel series, but it still certainly seems that there is still active interest, especially from Michael Rosenbaum. If the series does come together, the bulk of the original cast have expressed that they are willing to return.

Notably, the series was already continued in a comic book called Smallville Season 11. It is unclear if the planned animated series will address the new canon established in these comics. However, that seems unlikely. With DC looking at a new beginning with James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DCU, most of their pre-existing series and franchises are in the process of finishing up to allow a fresh start. As a result, a Smallville sequel series feels very unlikely to happen anytime soon – but it also shouldn’t be counted out just yet, either.

Kreuk has continued to work since departing the series and will likely continue to do so in the future. A charismatic and charming actor, Kreuk has gone on to one of the most successful careers on the small screen of the Smallville cast. There are points and details in Lana Lang’s story that would have been wonderful to wrap up more neatly in the series – however, the actor’s performance on the show still remains one of the strongest. Whether Smallville continues or not, Kristin Kreuk’s Lana Lang will remain one of the best love interests in superhero television.