If Superman & Lois had been able to run for seven seasons, two major villains from the comics would have been introduced. Co-showrunners Todd Helbing and Brent Fletcher recently revealed that Tyler Hoechlin’s Man of Steel would have faced off against Brainiac and Darkseid had the superhero drama series lasted beyond its fourth season.

Speaking with TVLine, Helbing shared that while the final season of Superman & Lois included “some version” of everything they wanted to explore, they were unable to introduce two iconic Superman villains: Brainiac and Darkseid. “If we went on for a couple more seasons, we would have really explored Brainiac,” said Helbing. “We would have done more cool, traditional Brainiac stuff with him.” Instead, Brainiac was only teased in the final season through LuthorCorp employee Milton Fine (played by Nikolai Witschl), a character who was possessed by the supervillain in the comics.

I don’t know if DC would have given us permission to use Darkseid, but we would have pitched the hell out of it to try to get it.

Helbing also shared that they had discussed “a way to lead up to Darkseid,” the supervillain who is largely remembered for being the big bad of Zack Snyder’s Justice League. “I don’t know if DC would have given us permission to use Darkseid, but we would have pitched the hell out of it to try to get it. That would have been a lot of fun,” he added. As for returning villains, Fletcher shared that they wanted to bring back Adam Rayner as Superman’s half-brother Tal-Roh, but “schedules and money and time” prevented them from doing so.

Superman & Lois Could Have Run for Seven Seasons

In September 2024, Helbing and Fletcher revealed that they had always hoped and planned for Superman & Lois to run for at least seven seasons on The CW. Unfortunately, following Nexstar Media Group’s acquisition of the network, as well as James Gunn’s plans for there to be fewer projects not set in the DC Universe, Superman & Lois was announced to be ending with its fourth season. Even though Helbing and Fletcher had to condense four seasons’ worth of ideas down into one epic final season, the co-showrunners took satisfaction in knowing that they had got to complete the story they set out to tell. “We were able to end it exactly how we wanted to end it, and that means a lot to us,” Fletcher said.

With Superman & Lois having concluded, the animated My Adventures with Superman is now the only Man of Steel-focused series left on the air, with a third season currently in production. It’s unlikely that a new live-action Superman series will be put into development, as DC Studios’ plans for the iconic superhero involve a return to the big screen. David Corenswet has been cast to portray the DCU’s Superman, beginning with the 2025 movie of the same name written and directed by James Gunn. Superman will be the first movie released in the DCU, followed by the standalone spinoff Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow in 2026.