Nearly 21 years after it ended, the executive producer of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman reveals how the show was never meant to end with that big cliffhanger.
Long before Tom Welling was treading through the fields of Smallville, Dean Cain was putting red pants on outside his tights and picking up a copy of The Daily Planet in Metropolis. Looking closer that the relationship between Clark Kent and Lois Lane, Teri Hatcher was cast as the feisty Ms. Lane, and the rest was history. However, when the show wrapped after four seasons, fans were outraged that the show left them begging for more.
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For those who tuned in on June 14, 1997, Lois & Clark had one final mystery as the leading couple found a bouncing baby in their living room and wrapped in a Superman blanket. The baby's parentage was a mystery, and now speaking to EW, executive producer Eugenie Ross-Leming said that the plot thread was supposed to carry over into season 5:
“We didn’t write it as a series finale, it was just supposed to be a cliffhanger. Looking to create obstacles for them, we ended up saying that carrying a baby to term would kill Lois. But as fate — or intergalactic justice — would have it, a baby of Krypton lineage is left at their doorstep. If the show had gone on, we would have seen them figuring out how to raise this child, who would have aged rapidly. He would have become a teenager in months."
Seeing the golden couple of Lois and Clark being ravaged by a terrible toddler/terrible teen in just a matter of episodes would've easily fitted with the show's comedic tone, but it sadly never came to be. ABC was originally intending on renewing Lois & Clark for season 5, but like so many shows back then, the network swung the ax without hesitation.
Lois & Clark was undoubtedly a brilliant piece of '90s nostalgia, but it was always fraught with problems. Season 2 saw the mysterious dropping of the character Cat Grant, the recasting of Jimmy Olsen, and John Shea's Lex Luthor reduced to nothing more than a background cameo. Despite early teething problems, Lois & Clark continued to perform strongly in the ratings battle and ABC was seemingly on board for more episodes. Canceled with such little warning led to the baby cliffhanger, meaning that only the likes of Ross-Leming and Bruckner will ever really know the full story.
Putting Hatcher on the road to playing a Bond girl and Susan Meyer on Desperate Housewives, her depiction of Lane is regarded as one of the best in the character's live-action history. Cain was also praised for his square-jawed Clark Kent, but has failed to reach the stardom that Hatcher has. That being said, both have starred in the likes of Supergirl and are clearly still attached to ABC's show. Although pining after a Desperate Housewives reunion instead.
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Source: EW