Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS from the Superman & Lois series finale.Jordan Kent actor Alex Garfin, takesScreenRantbehind the makings of theSuperman & Loisseries finale and bids farewell to hisDCrole of Superboy. In 2006, after merging UPN and The WB into one network, The CW began its DC TV era with the Superman prequel showSmallville, featuring Tom Welling as a young Man of Steel discovering his Kryptonian heritage. With the changes behind The CW under Nexstar, it was only fitting that a differentSupermanseries brought the superhero genre to an end on the network, withSuperman & Loisseason 4.
TheSuperman & Loisseason 4 finale, “It Went By So Fast,” saw Tyler Hoechlin and Bitsie Tulloch’s Clark Kent and Lois Lane finally deal with Doomsday, and Lex Luthor once and for all. While the Lane-Kent family dealt with their final big bad,theSuperman & Loisseries finalealso gave viewers a big glimpse into the boys' future as their parents grew old together. However, The CW drama had more than one surprise in store for fans asSuperman & Loismade history for the Man of Steel and the Daily Planet star reporter’s media legacy.
How Old The Superman & Lois Cast Is Compared To Their Characters
The cast of Superman & Lois have ages with just as much range as their characters, from young adults playing teenagers to middle-aged actors.
Asthe Arrowverse franchisehas reached its end,ScreenRantsat down with Alex Garfin for another in-depth interview about his final year withSuperman & Loisand seeing Jordan’s saga conclude. Garfin reflected on filming the emotionalSuperman & Loisseries finale and learning some revelations about Jordan’s future. Garfin also shared what it was like growing up withSuperman & Loisand what’s next after playing Superboy for four seasons.
Alex Garfin Breaks Down Superman & Lois Series Finale & Jordan Kent’s Sendoff
Screen Rant: The end is here, have the emotions now finally hit for you?
Alex Garfin: It’s crazy, because I saw the trailer for the finale, and a whole wave of emotions hit me yesterday. So it’s weird, because it felt like it already ended in [season] three then it felt like it ended when we stopped filming, and I’m gonna have to finally cope with the fact that now I am truly unemployed. [laughs]
We just call it an extended hiatus.
Alex Garfin: Yeah exactly. I’m waiting for the spin-off, I’m waiting for the call! No, look…the other thing is, is that, as you guys saw in last week’s episode, we really got to characterize Jordan in a really beautiful way, thanks to Jai Jamison’s beautiful writing and directing, that scene where Vicki May is having a panic attack, I think it showcases how Jordan is a different kind of hero than Jonathan, where Jonathan can understand these more physical problems. Jordan understands the emotional to a new level. There’s a depth to it that I found so much fun to play, and felt really gratifying in general, to do.
It reminds me a lot about how Superman deals with a lot of the physical threats in the world, while Lois, in a lot of ways, she deals with the little guy, the humans of the world. So it’s kind of nice seeing how those traits are now reflected in the kids.
Alex Garfin: Superman deals with the physical [while] Lois, a lot of times, deals with the emotional issues and the more interpersonal issues, and we see how the interpersonal issues can manifest in a physical way. In fact, I had a pitch that I was going to do for season 5.
I was going to pitch this, and Tyler actually liked it so much he was going to pitch it with me, because I was 19 at the time, but he really believed in this idea. I actually even, in a post mortem kind of way, pitched it to Jai as well. I would love to hear what Todd and everyone that’s the big boss would think of it. But I think it dealt with these themes, so here was my pitch for an alternate season 5. This was the beginning of season 3, when I was going to pitch this. So we didn’t really know about the Luthor element of it all. We didn’t really know what was going on. [In] season 5, so each character had their own little arc, the main villain would still be Luthor, but Luthor is actually funding this organization that worships Superman like a God, because the whole thing with Superman is a little Jesus.
It’s a little biblical. So the idea is that Superman has these big fights around the world and destroys a lot of property and destroys a lot of lives, just from the bystanders. And the people say, ‘The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away’ and they start this big fund that helps repair some of the damages that Superman does because they worship him so much. It’s their way of showing thanks. Now, obviously Clark gets extremely uncomfortable with this, and he doesn’t realize that Luthor has actually been putting it on to try to manipulate people. Because how do you get Superman? You come for his ego. You come for his lack thereof. You make him feel like a God, therefore people will fear him. You won’t be able to help in the same way. So all the while, Lois is muckraking this whole institution.
She’s trying to get underneath it all. She’s trying to understand where did this all come from. She starts to circle in on Luthor actually [being] the one running this entire cult. But the cult starts to get more and more worldwide. And I think one of the flaws of it is that actually it would be a little similar to season 2, but the cult starts to grow more and more worldwide, and they see Jordan as this kind of Hercules/Demigod, clearly a lesser version of Superman. All the while, Jonathan, he starts his own version of the repair fund. He starts his own version of trying to help the people that have been - because it’s before he had powers - that have been hurt by Superman along the way, hurt by Superman and Jordan.
Then there’s Sam Lane, obviously, back when he was alive, would be at the DoD trying to use this to help his cause for the United States government. Superman is this American figure, so he’s kind of working against Lois in this way, and he’s trying to get Lois to stop her publications. Lois has this whole duty of journalism. The thing is, that I thought it was interesting to make the battleground not just physical, but also in people’s minds. Because that’s where Lois truly shines. That’s how Lois is more powerful than Superman. There’s a Shakespeare sonnet. There’s also a couple other things, actually. Sarah knows his secret and doesn’t know what to do about it. I forgot Lana had a thing. I think she helps with Jonathan somehow. But the funniest one is that Kyle became a devout Super-night, he starts going full on wearing the strange clothes, he’s absolutely full into it, like he is devout. And then, of course, that causes conflict with him and Sarah.
Lois' power over people’s minds can be inherently stronger than Superman’s because it’s easily transportable and it doesn’t exactly exist in the physical space where Superman has every power. It’s why they’re the dream couple, and it’s why this season works so well.
Alex Garfin On Learning About The Superman & Lois Series Finale’s Plot
“It was one of the rare moments I’ve cried from reading a script.”
Can you take me to the day you read the script for this finale? How much did you know already of how they were going to end this story?
Alex Garfin: Yeah, I did have a vague idea of what was going to happen. I remember I was reading iton a plane, and it was one of the rare moments I’ve cried from reading a script - the ending, it just hit me in a different way. When I saw that Superman was going to age and die for real, and exactly how they did the death sequence, it really hit me, because it made me realize how Jordan is going to grow and how this character is no longer in my hands. You start to get a little precious about the people that you play, especially [when] you do it for so long and all sudden you realize - well, first of all, he’s not real - he’s living on without you, and that’s a really bizarre feeling to say goodbye like that.
More than that, it really sewed it up in a way that it felt like we couldn’t do this again, which is a another whole enchilada of feelings, but it’s beautifully done, and it was beautifully directed by Greg Smith, who I don’t know how he did it, considering that it was the last day of the shoot. It felt like the last day of school, even though it wasn’t. Everyone was kind of dozing off, laughing and doing this and doing that, the weather was nice and Greg, without ever really becoming dictatorial, very gently guided us through this massive episode that I think on paper was bigger than the pilot, which took us two months to film.
I don’t think anyone expected a Superman adaptation where we see Lois Lane and Clark Kent die. What was your takeaway from that? How did that feel being able to get to this flashforward and seeing that this is the way their story ends?
Alex Garfin: Oh, it’s a testament to the character that it’s about around for 85 years, and we’ve never seen him die fully. It’s a testament to the power of that character that you would think that someone else would have been able to do it before we have and then it’s also that much more of an honor to realize that we get to do that. I’m not a big comic book guy, as we all know, but I am a big history guy, and it feels bizarre to be a part of history, in no matter what field, comic book or television alike, I think the gravity of the moment isn’t really felt until I think everyone watches it and feels it. However, the last scene in the show was the last one we shot.
You actually got to shoot that in order? It wasn’t like shooting it on day four, and then you go back for the rest?
Alex Garfin: Normally, that’s how it works, and that’s how it works for the entire episode. But they did save the last shot for the last thing we ever shot, which I’m getting emotional thinking about it. For the first time ever, all the executives came up from LA, and we finally got to meet all the people working hard on the show from down there. And it felt like this crazy family from this crazy ride we’ve all been on we were doing one last thing together. I don’t know really how else to put it, it felt like a graduation for me. I spent my four college years doing this, and I’m so unbelievably grateful to that group of people.
I’m really grateful to Dylan Walsh, who wasn’t there that day, who was a steadfast source of encouragement that I desperately needed at times for all four years. I’m extremely grateful to Michael Cudlitz, who let me pick his brain about acting non stop and again, was a really awesome source of encouragement. And then, of course, it’s Bitsie and Tyler, who I’ve looked up to for this entire time, who I’ve sat across from more times than I can count, and still feel lucky that I get to even be in the room with them. So it’s a bizarre, bizarre thing to say goodbye to it as the character, to say goodbye in the character to my dad, because that was the scene we were doing, I’d also say goodbye to my growing up in real life.
Was it scripted that you would be the one essentially open the door for Clark to go to Heaven, or was it kind of like a coin toss between which one of the kids gets to do it?
Alex Garfin: Oh, that’s interesting! I haven’t seen it yet. I believe we shot both versions.
In the one I saw, you’re the one who opens the door.
Alex Garfin: Oh, that makes me feel good, man! I do think that there was something special about being there all four years. Unfortunately, I know the other actors couldn’t for their reasons, so I’m happy that it was Jordan that got to do that. Yeah, what a great scene. What a phenomenal scene, by the way, the white out that I’m not sure if they added something to it after.
On the day they actually did that, they just unfocused the camera and then shifted it to the white. So we saw that on the day. There were tears in the room. I have a picture of all the executives watching it finally happen. I gave a goodbye speech. I was crying. I don’t cry very often, quite honestly, and I think I cried three or four times in the final couple days of that show. It’s a privilege, and I hope to have that privilege again, to bring another character to life like that.
We see Jordan and Jonathan as adults. Bitsie’s husband plays Jonathan, but who was the actor who was playing grown-up you?
Alex Garfin: He is a really good guy, he’s a French-Canadian guy, really sweet. I think they just kind of found somebody, and they felt like David looked a little more like Michael than me. They really wanted David to be there, but he’s a really great guy. I’m happy that he got to do it. think in Bitsie’s mind, she thought there was a bit of competition of who would have David play them.
While I do love and respect David, I don’t mind, either way is whateverfits the character. David also directed an episode this year, he did phenomenal! I did not know that he had that skill set, although I’m not surprised, given that he’s such a talented actor, but I really felt like he got some of the best performances out of me, of everyone, he has also been a lovely figure in my life for the past four years, and I have him today for a lot as well.
Alex Garfin Addresses Jordan Kent’s Future In The Superman & Lois Series Finale Flashforward
“Is this something I get to reveal?”
I don’t know what it said in the script, but during the flashforward, we see Jordan with a brunette, and I’m just gonna assume that is grown up Sarah, am I correct?
Alex Garfin: [Laughs] Is this something I get to reveal? I’m pretty sure in the script, it was some other name. It was just some random name. I can look it up right now if you want. It was some random name, though. It wasn’t Sarah. In my mind, Jordan and Sarah were never meant to be together. I think that that relationship was them exploring everything that you shouldn’t do in a relationship. And I’m really happy that they became friends in the way that they did, much like Inde and I did in real life.
In a lot of ways, it’s a good contrast because essentially, before Clark had Lois, he had Lana in a lot of iterations. So in a way, Sarah was your Lana of getting to know what is love.
Alex Garfin: And that means that Jordan’s kid is going to end up dating Sarah’s kid. It’s just going to be a Kent family tradition to f–k up their first relationship to the Lang [family] it will be passing the torch of f—–g up relationships and trying to become friends - ad infinitum!
Listen, I’m just gonna be bitter, we didn’t hear a name on screen, so I’m just gonna pretend that it was Sarah, you know, like, you know, could have
Alex Garfin: I guess they could have left it ambiguous. Maybe they only put that there to make Inde happy. I wouldn’t have really cared. Maybe Inde probably would have a little bit! [laughs]
Alex Garfin On Superboys Vs Doomsday In The Superman & Lois Series Finale
You and Michael, you get to have your big fights with Doomsday. How was it filming on those days? Because I guess that’s a very different type of physical stuff to do do, compared to what you’ve done already on the show.
Alex Garfin: That was mainly green screen stuff. And in fact, it’s weird, because it was hard not to laugh on the day. Basically, they had a guy named Paul who was a really talented stunt performer, he was here and he would do the big roar, but he actually had a big stick with a mannequin head on the top of it, so we knew where to look. The whole thing looks so silly to be terrified of. To be quite honest, it was some of the least difficult fighting I’ve had to do on the show. Because it’s all CG, and man, my digi did do so much of it in the finale. Almost all of it was just digi double stuff.
The helicopter was cool, though. That was a real helicopter. They carted that thing in. They had fire coming out of it. It was one of those moments that I looked back behind me at the burning helicopter, I went ‘Holy f–k. I’m on a movie set! This is pretty cool!’
It’s fun doing that kind of stuff because you’re silly on the day, but then it translates on the screen that the two characters are just in their moment, in their jive, because we were as actors as well.
Alex Garfrin Addresses The Superboys' Official Suit-Up Moment In The Superman & Lois Series Finale
“I hope it looks cool on camera.”
During the flashforward, we get to see you guys briefly in costumes, but the version I saw was pre-VFX, so what are fans actually seeing on Monday? Is it these costumes [shows an image fromSuperman: The Definitive Historyof Jordan and Jonathan in their comic book costumes] that you guys end up wearing in the finale?
Alex Garfin: Well, you were watching something funny! Basically, they had me in all-black leotard, like a black skin suit, all the way up and down. So you could see every bit of my skin. Then they had you in a harness to fly, and the harness would latch right around your crotch area, thereby lifting your crotch out to the world. And then that was the day while the executives showed up from Los Angeles! [laughs] So I’m walking out there making jokes with people, like, ‘Hey! I have no modesty left. I have no modesty left whatsoever. This is what they’re doing to me.’ And then, of course, the executives are right there, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God!’ I’m like walking by them - ridiculous, I hope it looks cool on camera, though.
So could you explain what this was for? Was it for a previous season?
Alex Garfin: Yeah, that was a proof of concept. I’m pretty sure of what these suits would look like for the last couple frames. I mean, I don’t think it was ever really a debate to build the ones for real. There was for another version of the show that we’ll get into on another interview with you when I can speak about a little more freely. But by the time it came to Michael and I are both doing it towards the end of season 4, they were pretty sure they were just gonna digi it all on us. It’s a lot cheaper that way.
When I watch the finale, which will actually be a week after everyone else watches it, because we’re doing a little screening in LA and I’m going to wait till then to see it, I’m going to finally see myself with the crest after all this time. I did my first audition for this role when I just turned 16, and now I will see it after I’m 21, isn’t that crazy? I was 17 by the time I started filming season 1 - the day we started filming, I had my 17th birthday. My birthday, September 23, is always like the start of the school year, and then it became the start of the show. And weirdly enough, [for the] show [to be] lined up with the school years, except when it started to collapse at the end. [Laughs]
I saw some people dress up as Jonathan or Jordan for Halloween, like two little kids, and that made me really happy They just had two little Superman shirts, and they were both Jonathan and Jordan. I don’t know if they went the whole goggles. I don’t know if a kid would want to wear that the whole night. That thing would come at your neck. It would kind of come right here on your neck - the hood, which set we used to call the condom…
[Laugh] Wow, that’s not a good nickname for it!
Alex Garfin: No, it’s an honor to be able to wear that kind of thing, though. I, for all the jokes, how awesome is it to be able to play a superhero, no matter what the costume is, no matter what the show is, even. Thankfully, I had a great show, how much fun is it to play pretend and to make a living.
I’m figuring that by the time we got to the end of the season, you must have been relieved just to be back in a hoodie.
Alex Garfin: I think Michael had to wear it once, maybe twice. He was in the digi a lot of times - you don’t realize that he’s just in the digi - but he did wear it a couple times, I’m pretty sure, like the full on [suit] in real life. So he got a taste of it. Sometimes other interviewers, they say, ‘Are you glad you could finally relax that the show’s over?’ No, in fact, now it’s more stressful. First of all, because I’m lining up the next thing anyway, but number two, that’s my happy place. That’s where I feel the most relaxed, at home, when I have the privilege of being on a set.
That means that you also don’t see this just as a job. If something just feels like a job, like, I understand that, but you don’t think of it as a job. You think of it as like,‘I get to go and pretend to be someone else,‘and that’s a sign of a very good environment. You will hear actors from other TV shows talk about it, where they had to leave because it started to feel too much like a job.
Alex Garfin: I couldn’t tell you what that’s like, because, yeah, I was lucky enough to be in this incredible environment. Incredible environment. I think if it ever felt like a job to me, I would go and do my job.
Because this was one of your first major roles, right?
Alex Garfin: I did the Peanuts [movie] when I was a child, but that’s voice acting. So you go into a little booth, 10 minutes from your house once in a while. Then I did this, [which] feels like I’m doing something professional. I’m going in. I’m getting money for this. My creativity is respected here. I am a part of this enterprise. And then Superman & Lois came around, it’s the first time I felt like, ‘Holy s–t, this is like Hollywood.’ And even still, we felt Vancouver and the environment was so great and so friendly that I don’t know if I really had that Hollywood experience yet. The feeling, whatever my next project will be, if that ends up being in LA, I’ll really start to feel like that. I’ll be looking at the palm trees going on my way to set, and thinking, ‘Oh s–t!’ I was pretty lucky to have this be my first major role.
There’s a beautiful line in the finale when Clark asks Lois,‘What do you think Superman and Lois Lane will be remembered for?‘For young teens out there who grew up with the show how you grew up with working on this show, what do you think Jordan Kent will be remembered for, for the Superman audience, and for the general audience?
Alex Garfin: I think he’ll be remembered for being a kid who overcame obstacles from within and without to become one of the most unique and special and incredible heroes that this universe has gotten to see, that’s what I hope.
Alex Garfin On Potential Spinoffs After Superman & Lois
If the time ever came, because I know that sometimes some of these Arrowverse characters who have been original characters, they eventually make their debut in the comics. Nicole Maines fromSupergirl, she’s been very involved with Dreamer throughout the comics. If Jordan Kent can or was ever to come into the world of comics, and you got a chance to write or pitch something to extend his mythology, is that something you would want to tackle?
Alex Garfin: Yeah, actually, I was coming up with an idea for a spin-off at one point when Jordan and Jonathan are finally going to “college.” The college turns out to be set up by the DoD, and it’s this place that the DoD is kind of keeping all these super-kids prisoner. In a way, it’s a lot like the Tag Harris storyline, but it went [in] a bit of a different direction in that it turns out that this is actually an old, outdated program from the Soviet era, and that they’re keeping these kids almost like nuclear weapons, because the Soviets still have theirs. And eventually they’re fighting each other, but then they ended up teaming up, realizing that they were fighting other people’s wars and toppling governments. It got really political and strange and kind of a little more global. I would love to make that show a reality one of these days, I really would.
I would love to see you and Michael work together again. That was also when it hit me when Jordan initially thought Jonathan was dead, and you were trying to wake him up, I’m like,‘Oh my God, this is the last time I get to see them having a chaotic or stirring moment like this!’ So I’m really hoping that you and Michael get to work together again, because you guys are such good scene partners.
Alex Garfin: That scene, they had to use so many angles of it, and was such an emotional scene. When you do an angle of scene, you do it like three times, and then you have to sit around for another 20 minutes. They have to move all the lights, move everything. Then they do it again, and you have to get there again. And I was pretty much completely out, we did it so many times by the time they got to my coverage [for] the shot on my face. I wonder how it turns out, I hope it turned out all right. I ended up cheating.
For my eyeline, just use a picture of my real brother, and I think just seeing him viscerally help me get back there, because my brother and I [are] really close in real life. I hope to work with everyone from that show again, though. I hope I get to work with Dylan Walsh and Michael Cudlitz again. They were just so huge in my life, whether they knew it or not.
Alex Garfin’s Hope For Future Superman Storytellers After Superman & Lois
“Making him human really helps dramaturgically.”
As we’re closing this corner of the Superman mythology, what do you hope for future Superman storytellers, whether it is someone like James Gunn or other people who will tackle Superman in media in the future, to take away and have learn fromSuperman & Loisfrom the way you guys tackle this beloved, iconic mythology, but also adding to it?
Alex Garfin: I hope if they want to write another Superman show, the takeaway [from Superman & Lois is] that making him human really helps dramaturgically, that we could have given him challenges that made him a little more approachable, rather than just the omnipotent kind of guy that you see that eventually faces some other omnipotent force, and then you just see over and over again. An immovable object gets hit with an unbeatable force - that gets old eventually, [but] by humanizing him and giving him a family, you can really make Superman interesting in a way that has never been interesting before.
I know I asked you this last time, but I want to see since we last spoke, what is next for Alex Garfin, the actor?
Alex Garfin: You’ll see, I can’t talk about it!
Are you close to announcing something sooner? Will it be something for next year?
Alex Garfin: We’ll have to see - nothing that’s coming out for the rest of this year, I’ll tell you that much, at least.
More About Superman & Lois Season 4
Season four of SUPERMAN & LOIS picks up right where last season left off: with Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) and Luthor’s monster locked in a ferocious, moon-wrecking battle, as Clark (Tyler Hoechlin) fights for his life against the seemingly unstoppable creature. Back on the ground, General Lane (guest star Dylan Walsh) struggles to stay alive after being kidnapped by Luthor’s henchmen, while Lois (Elizabeth Tulloch), Jordan (Alex Garfin), and Jonathan (Michael Bishop) race against time to rescue him. But standing in their way is Lex Luthor (Michael Cudlitz) himself, who has permanently moved to Smallville as the next step in his malicious plan to destroy Lois Lane. Meanwhile, Lana Lang (guest star Emanuelle Chriqui) uses her position as Mayor to fight back against Luthor’s schemes, a move which puts her in the sights of the most dangerous man in the world and threatens everything she holds dear.
This includes her relationship with John Henry Irons (guest star Wolé Parks), who must put his Ironworks plans on hold and rejoin the DOD, now that General Lane is missing. But they aren’t the only duo in trouble, as Chrissy Beppo (guest star Sofia Hasmik) and Kyle Cushing (guest star Eric Valdez) face an uphill battle of their own, with countless roadblocks that threaten to ruin their future together. Amid all the chaos, Sarah Cortez (guest star Inde Navarette) and Natalie Irons (guest star Tayler Buck) also join the fight against Luthor, while both facing impossible decisions about their paths in life. And as Clark’s battle with the terrifying monster continues, Lois, her boys, and the world must face an unthinkable possibility: what if Superman never returns?
Check out our other interviews with moreSuperman & Loiscast members:
Superman & Loisseason 4 airs on The CW, with the final season coming to Max at a later time.
Superman & Lois
Cast
Superman & Lois follows the Man of Steel, Clark Kent, and journalist Lois Lane as they navigate the strains of contemporary parenthood while confronting threats from supervillains and alien invaders, blending personal challenges with heroic responsibilities in this 2021 television series.
