Superman & Lois will honor the Superman stories that have come before, including Zack Snyder's Man of Steel.
Lee Toland Krieger, the director of the first two episodes of the Arrowverse show on The CW, spoke with EW about the influences on the series. Though the tale will be unique in a few ways and focus just as much on Lois Lane as Superman, Krieger was still inspired by some existing stories -- including the contentious first entry in the DCEU.
"I admit, I'm a fan of Man of Steel, more than maybe most people," Krieger said. "I think if you go back and watch that movie now, a lot of it holds up really beautifully. I think the third act of that movie maybe falls victim to what a lot of giant tentpole movies fall victim to, which is kind of the 'Okay, now the world is being destroyed and we have to save the whole planet from imminent destruction,' and that's always just a tough place to go and make it still feel intimate. But the intimate moments of that movie I think are really beautiful. We certainly looked at, in particular, the [movie's] suit. The suit, obviously, is a great looking suit, despite people thinking it was somewhat heretical to lose the underpants. I think now it sort of seems like the gold standard. Certainly the cape action, a lot of the practical cape and the [digitally-rendered version of the] cape work was something I don't think I fully appreciated until we were in the weeds on it, but is really wonderful and lends itself to some of those more heroic moments."
Krieger also revealed that Richard Donner's version of Superman served as a major influence, which was aided by the fact that the show was able to film in an actual newspaper office thanks to the COVID-19 shutdown. "[Donner's] blocking, especially in the Daily Planet with Perry White and Clark and Lois and the oners [long takes] there are just really brilliantly laid out and kind of not what you would expect in a movie like that," Krieger said.
Ultimately, everyone in the show wanted to do something that had never been done before. They toyed with the idea of giving Clark and Lois a son and daughter, but showrunner Todd Helbing eventually settled on two twin boys, mirroring his own experience with having two sons with their own unique personalities.
Superman & Lois stars Tyler Hoechlin, Elizabeth Tulloch, Dylan Walsh, Alex Garfin, Jordan Elsass, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Inde Navarrette and Wolé Parks. The series premieres Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.
Source: EW