The Supernatural Star Who Lost Smallville's Superman To Tom Welling

It's hard to imagine "Smallville" being as successful as it was without Tom Welling. The man made Superman feel more human than arguably any other actor, portraying his journey through adolescence in such a way that he's come to represent the finest on-screen Clark Kent yet. While Christopher Reeve is, for most, indisputably the best Supes, Welling is by far the best Kent.

The actor was just starting out when he landed the lead in The WB's new series back in 2001. Interestingly enough, it seems he wasn't even interested in what would become his defining role at the time, with "the director of "Smallville" having to beg Welling to even take an audition in the first place. In a retrospective, the actor told The Hollywood Reporter:

"This show 'Smallville' came along, and they weren't releasing the script. 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."

Eventually, though, Welling was convinced, and had seemingly impressed the director and producers before he even showed up. The production team had pushed hard to have the actor come in based solely on his headshot, which evidently projected the kind of All-American good looks they were after. In that sense, it seems Welling was destined to play Clark Kent from the outset. But it turns out the final decision actually came down to a toss-up between him and another actor who would go on to star in another WB series, "Supernatural."

It wasn't just Tom Welling who wasn't too bothered about auditioning for "Smallville." Lex Luthor actor Michael Rosenbaum also wasn't all that interested in actually landing his role either. In both actors' case, however, they ended up playing what were inarguably their best-known characters in Clark Kent and Luthor. But things could have worked out quite differently had the producers gone with their second choice for Clark.

During a 2022 appearance on Rosenbaum's own Inside of You podcast — 11 years after the show wrapped up back in 2011 — Welling revealed that the final decision for who should play Clark came down to him and "Supernatural" star Jensen Ackles. "It was me and Jensen," Welling said. "I remember going in for the actual audition [...] and I walk in and there's this like wonderfully handsome guy, who I'm like 'I think this guy is a real actor.'" Welling previously spoke about his experience to The Hollywood Reporter, telling the outlet that he'd actually come in for a screen test with Kristin Kreuk, who'd already been cast as on-again-off-again love interest Lana Lang. "I walk into the waiting room and it was me and Jensen Ackles, who I'd seen on TV before but didn't know. I was like, 'This guy is a real actor. I'll never get it,'" Welling recalled.

Of course, he did get it and Ackles went on to play Dean Winchester for 15 seasons on "Supernatural." What's more Ackles would actually end up playing a major role on "Smallville" during the show's fourth season, in which he appeared across 22 episodes as Jason Teague, a love interest for Lana who rather unfortunately ends up being crushed by a meteor. I'm not sure what hurts more — death by space rock or losing a leading role to unreasonably handsome man Tom Welling.

After he missed out on the role of Clark Kent, Jensen Ackles was, of course, absolutely fine. Not only did he find the perfect role in Dean Winchester and play him across a full 15 seasons — five more than "Smallville" — he also proved his worth once again with a brilliant run on "The Boys" season 3, which gave Ackles the spotlight he deserves.

Recalling his 2001 "Smallville" audition in "Smallville: The Comic" #11 (via Kryptonsite), the actor remained gracious as ever, saying:

"It got pretty close and actually came down to Tom and me. We had to go back a couple of times to the network and they ultimately went with Tom which I thought made sense because he looks more the part than I do. Watching the past three seasons, I'd say they made the right choice."

There's no doubt Welling turned out to be the perfect Clark Kent. The actor managed to anchor the show through its transition from coming-of-age origin story to full-on superhero action series that was essentially a Superman show sans the costume. But I'm sure given his talent that Ackles would have done a fine job, too.