Superman and Lois is already breaking records on The CW, just after the second episode and, with the network already renewing the series for a second season, the Arrowverse has a new hit show on its hands. However, Lois Lane herself, Elizabeth Tulloch, was surprisingly hesitant when she first signed on to the show, particularly when it came to not knowing how long the series could run.
When starting a new job, it’s hard to know how long you’ll be doing that job, no matter what it is. When Elizabeth Tulloch first booked the role as the world’s most famous journalist, she was pregnant, so she had to make a decision about the role and its future pretty quickly. Tulloch told Collider that with her husband, David Giutoli, being an actor, she didn’t know how it would work out. Even though they were both shooting in the same city, they were still discussing how it would work if one show moved to a different town. Tulloch explained:
I was hesitant, in the sense that when we do sign onto something like this, you are signing up to do it for a number of years. I also, when I booked this role, was pregnant, so my life was about to change drastically, no matter what. It was like, ‘Oh, I have to make this decision now. Factoring in the fact that I’m gonna have a baby and that I have a husband who’s [an actor]. Luckily, David [Giuntoli] is on A Million Little Things in Vancouver, as well. We got very lucky, in regards to both shooting in the same city and being able to keep our family together, but there was a heavy discussion about, 'What if the show shoots in another city and you’re shooting A Million Little Things in Vancouver? How do we do that?’
Elizabeth Tulloch went on to say that both she and costar, Tyler Hoechlin, were convinced through the way the show was pitched. Executive producer Todd Helbing had pitched the series as Friday Night Lights with the Superman and Lois Lane elements. The actress mentioned that it also really helped that she and Hoechlin got along really well while filming both the Elsewords and Crisis On Infinite Earths crossovers. Tulloch said:
Tyler and I both were convinced by the way that Todd Helbing pitched the show. We didn’t wanna do huge set pieces and flying around for six years. What really signed us up for it was the family drama aspect of it. He pitched it as Friday Night Lights, with elements of Superman and elements of Lois Lane. Yes, you’ll see set pieces and Easter eggs and everything like that, but this is really a show about the relationship with this foursome, moving back to the small town. That was intriguing for us. And Tyler and I had a little bit of practice shooting together, during Elseworlds and Crisis, and we get along really well. We love working together and we adore each other, so part of what sold it for us was getting to work with the other one. We shoot a lot and we shoot a lot together, so the fact that we get along as well as we do, can’t be overestimated. It really made us want to sign up for something that could potentially go for a long time.
Elizabeth Tulloch isn’t the only Superman & Lois star who was having doubts about the series. Tyler Hoechlin, who plays the Man of Steel, recently revealed that he didn’t want to commit to something that was a full-time thing after leaving Teen Wolf. When he first appeared as Superman in Supergirl, the role was perfect, as it was only set to last for a couple of weeks. He admitted that it was the “shamelessly optimistic and hopeful” tone of Superman & Lois that drew him in, just as Tulloch explained.
Now with Superman & Lois in full swing, it’s hard to believe that either star, at first, didn’t want the series to join the show, but it’s not hard to believe it’s the story that brought both Elizabeth Tulloch and Tyler Hoechlin on board.
Superman & Lois airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
