Michael Rosenbaum is considered one of the best and most compelling live-action versions of Lex Luthor, and there are a lot of Smallville fans who would love to see him return to the role. While he and Tom Welling are developing an animated Smallville series that would see him back in the role, Rosenbaum has been approached a few times to reprise his role, but things haven’t worked out.
While we all know that he was asked to reprise his role as Lex in the Crisis on Infinite Earths Arrowverse crossover series, there was also another project that he was approached for. He didn’t offer a lot of details, but he did say:
“They were considering me for another show, to play Lex Luthor. I’m not going to say what it was for, but they wanted me and I think that ultimately, it didn’t work out. But I was flattered. There was something else that I turned down, and it didn’t get picked up, either. But I met with everybody, just to be respectful.
“I was honored as it’s always nice to get an offer, but it was the kind of role where you needed make up for, and it was probably a couple of hours of make-up every morning. I can’t really say what it was, but I just said, ‘No thanks. I’m not doing this for a show.’ For a movie, you [would] consider something! That’s the thing, if you’re playing Lex Luthor for two or three months for a movie, big deal, shave your head! It’s a little different shaving your head for seven years.”
It’d be interesting to know what the other DC project was. I wonder if it was for Superman & Lois, or another project that never got off the ground. Rosenbaum went on talk about why he ultimately turned down the offer to reprise his role in Crisis on Infinite Earths, saying:
“There’s only room for one Lex. If they’re doing this multiverse story, I don’t want to be with other Lexes. If they want to show me in a different realm, world or universe, great, and then have the other me in another universe, that’s fine.
“I didn’t really love the idea of having my Lex and other Lexes, it just wasn’t something that interested me. I believe that the reason I didn’t do it was because they pretty much said, ‘Hey, we’re shooting this next whatever. We don’t have a script. This is what we’re getting you. Are you in or out?’ I’m like, ‘I’m out.’ [There was] no money, no script, not telling me what’s going on.”
It would be a lot of fun to see Rosenbaum to back in the role of Lex, but if it ever happens, it’ll most likely be the Smallville animated series that he and Welling are trying to get off the ground.
