According to ScreenRant, the trailer for the third season of Superman & Lois debuts Lex Luthor, played by Michael Cudlitz (Grosse Pointe Blank, The Walking Dead). Although Cudlitz’s arrival was previously announced, it has not yet been disclosed when the actor will make his grand entrance in the third season.
As reported by SuperHeroHype, the new trailer only offers glimpses of Lex Luthor’s face, but provides multiple shots of him behind bars. In a surprising turn of events, one of the clips features Lex Luthor with a full head of hair, which he shaves off before his release from prison.
The Superman & Lois Twitter account announced Lex Luthor’s prison release:
According to ComicBook, the character of Lex Luthor is described as a visionary billionaire behind LexCorp, who is also a brutal psychopath known to the criminal underworld for terrorizing anyone who crosses him. After years out of the public eye, he re-emerges in the current season, determined to correct a personal injustice by seeking revenge on Superman, played by Tyler Hoechlin (Teen Wolf, 7th Heaven), and Lois Lane, played by Elizabeth Tulloch (The Artist, Concussion).
The upcoming iteration of Lex in Superman & Lois will be depicted as darker than previous versions. In this continuity, he has been serving time in prison for almost 20 years, meaning he hasn’t faced off against Superman in nearly two decades. The character is described as a brutal psychopath, which makes him more unhinged than in previous portrayals, according to ScreenRant.
It seems that in an exclusive interview with ScreenRant, Wolé Parks (All American, Yellowstone), one of the stars of Superman & Lois, hinted that this version of Lex would be a darker portrayal of the character. Parks also suggested that Lex may have had some prior history with John Henry Irons before his death, but it is unclear at this point if the alternate John Henry Irons will cross paths with Lex.
“You’ll have to see how that unfolds,” executive producer and co-showrunner Todd Helbing (The Flash, Spartacus) told TVInsider at the beginning of the season. “We don’t wanna spoil anything, but we wanted to present a different version of Lex for the fans, you know?”
Co-showrunner Brent Fletcher (Lost, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) also added that the show’s mantra has always been, “If we’re gonna do this, let’s find our own version of it,” since the Superman story has been told so many times. “So we did the same thing with Lex…and we’re super excited.”
Superman & Lois returns on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, at 8 pm EST/7 pm CST, and will continue on Tuesdays on The CW.