The the Arrowverse franchise concluded its run in December 2024 with the final season of Superman & Lois. Although Superman & Lois became one of the most critically acclaimed DC TV properties for The CW, the Man of Steel almost didn't get far enough to have his own series in the Arrowverse.

On the latest episode of Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum, Hoechlin went into detail about how his Arrowverse spinoff, Superman & Lois, came to be, but the answer may shock long-time fans of the franchise. Initially, Hoechlin was meant to be done as Superman in the Arrowverse after the Elseworlds crossover, as he shared the following story:

I did two episodes, then I did two episodes at the end of that season. And then at one point, I went and met with Greg [Berlanti] again, and he was like, 'Hey, would you want to come back and do the character on the crossovers?' I was like, 'Yeah, I had a blast! I love working with Melissa [Benoist], I love working with Grant...'

The next meeting I had with Greg, [he was like], 'Do you want to do the crossovers?' And I was like, 'That sounds fun, yeah, I'd love to go work with everybody again. I had a great time.' So it was three episodes, and he goes, 'Okay, cool... well, they are telling me it's the last time I can use you as the character. And I was like, 'Okay, great. Dude, it was supposed to be two episodes, this will be seven now, great, awesome.' He's like, 'I might even kill you!' I'm like, 'Do what you got to do - great, sounds great!' That was the conversation going into Elseworlds.

So we do Elseworlds, I finish up there, and at that point, it's been like, I want to say, maybe it's coming up on a couple [of] years post-Teen Wolf, and I'm like, 'You know what? I've had fun, I've done a couple [of] films, I've bounced around a little bit.' I was like, 'I want to build a community. I want to I want to know the people I go to work with all the time and I want to have a bit of a base, and so I reached out to Greg, I sent him an email and I was like, 'Hey man, look, my life's changed a little bit since the last time we sat down. I'm looking for something a little bit more consistent. If you're open to something, I'd love to come in and talk to you about doing something together.'

For me, Superman's done. Superman's done, they've told him it's the last time you can use the character on the shows. So he's like, 'I'd love that, come in.' So we sit and we have a meeting and we talk, and at one point he's like 'Look, I think I can get Superman to happen, but I need to know you're on board before I start making those calls cause I'm going to have to convince some people to do it.' And I was like 'Okay.' So we talked about what it would look like and how it would be different, and all this kind of stuff, and I was like 'All right.' I was like, 'Hey, you know what? If it looks like that, I'm down, I'm in,' and I was walking out the door, and I heard him say to his assistant, he's like, 'Get Peter Roth on the phone.'

Then it was like a few months of things turning over, and then eventually, it became this thing of like 'Yeah, this is real, we want to do this.' And I was like, 'All right, great, awesome!'

What Tyler Hoechlin's Arrowverse Story Means For Superman & Lois

While Warner Bros. Discovery, The CW, Berlanti Productions, and DC have yet to comment on Hoechlin's story, the Superman mandate sounds very much like the way that the DC Films regime was operating back during the DCEU movie timeline. At the time, major DC characters were either limited or forbidden to appear on the live-action TV shows. But based on Hoechlin's comments, Berlanti clearly had enough pull at the studio to convince them to let The CW launch Superman & Lois. However, the fact that Elseworlds almost killed Hoechlin's version of Superman would have had huge ramifications for the Arrowverse.

Had Superman & Lois never happened, it would have meant the loss of what became one of the most unique takes on the Man of Steel and Lois Lane, especially as they brought a family dynamic to life that hadn't been seen in other live-action adaptations before. It would have also prevented one of the biggest Superman conclusions in live-action, as the Superman & Lois ending saw Lois and Clark's lives coming full circle, including their ing. But thankfully, with Berlanti and Hoechlin's early talks, Superman & Lois was allowed to be born and run for four incredible seasons.

Our Take On Tyler Hoechlin's Superman & Lois Story

Tyler Hoechlin as Superman flying in Superman & Lois

As dramatic as it would have been to see Superman's death in the Elseworlds crossover, it's good that this never came to fruition, as it would have been a huge loss to see Hoechlin's Superman be taken away from the Arrowverse so early. At the end of the day, Hoechlin's story is a reminder of how tricky things can get in Hollywood with big IPs like Superman. For anyone who wants to relive Hoechlin's entire Arrowverse legacy, including Superman & Lois, his DC TV appearances and every season of his spinoff show, are available through home media and streaming.

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Source: Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum/YouTube