Jon Cryer's Biggest Regret About Playing Lex Luthor In The Arrowverse

"Superman & Lois" recently aired its season 4 finale on The CW and, with that, the Arrowverse has officially come to an end. What began with "Arrow" and blossomed into a massive multiverse of DC TV shows is now a thing of the past. While this series, in particular, had a bit of a funky place in the Arrowverse thanks to some multiverse shenanigans, there are no DC shows left on the network now, so this era is good and truly over. That also means Jon Cryer, who played Lex Luthor in the Arrowverse for a time, has gotten a chance to reflect on his role as the DC villain, and he has but one regret regarding his run as Superman's greatest foe.

On a recent episode of KJ Today, Cryer was asked about his experience playing Lex Luthor, which began during "Supergirl" season 4. The actor ended up playing the role on 20 episodes of the series opposite Melissa Benoist's titular hero. He also appeared on episodes of "Arrow," "Legends of Tomorrow," "Batwoman," and "The Flash" for big Arrowverse crossover events. The actor didn't appear in "Superman & Lois," however, which is a source of regret. Here's what he had to say about it:

"The whole Arrowverse was just one for the nerds. I loved being a nerd. I loved reveling in it. We got into the deepest, darkest recesses of DC lore. I am sorry to see 'Superman & Lois' go as well, because I think that was just a fantastic new look at those characters. I think they managed to really crack it by being faithful to who Superman is. And my biggest regret is that I never was on it."

"Superman & Lois" tried to present us with a human take on the Man of Steel. The show debuted in 2021 after the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover event. Tyler Hoechlin reprised his role as Superman after appearing on "Supergirl," with Elizabeth Tulloch playing Lois Lane. Unfortunately for Cryer, the series featured a new Lex Luthor played by Michael Cudlitz ("Band of Brothers").

So, why wasn't Cryer asked to return as Lex? That's a more complicated question. A big part of it has to do with the fact that the multiverse as we knew it in the Arrowverse was erased in "Crisis on Infinite Earths," with everything being folded into a single, new Earth. Everything was different in the aftermath of that event, even certain villains we had seen in the past.

"I don't know if I would specifically define it as not in the Arrowverse per se," showrunner Todd Helbing explained regarding "Superman & Lois" to Entertainment Weekly in 2022. "Maybe it's not that binary. It's more that the events in our show are not taking place on the same Earth as the current Arrowverse."

Again, the show's place in the overall continuity of this universe is complicated. At the same time, this is all made up and the rules of the multiverse are pretty flexible. It would have conceivably been pretty easy to bring Cryer back, had the creatives wanted to go that direction. Instead, Cudlitz put his stamp on the character, with "Superman & Lois" season 4 also bringing us big baddies like Doomsday. Audiences loved the show so it's hard to argue against any of the big decisions that were made. Still, Cryer understandably wishes he had been a part of it.

You can grab the first three seasons of "Superman & Lois" on Blu-ray via Amazon.