MICHAEL ROSENBAUM Reveals Why He Left SMALLVILLE After Season 7 

Mr. Rosenbaum, I understand why you did it, but indeed the show suffered from your loss. Also, out of all actors who portrayed Lex Luthor, you were definitely my favorite. I loved how nuanced and complex your Lex was.

Michael Rosembaum and Tom Welling are still the best cast Lex Luthor and Clark Kent in my opinion.

The show became very different in season 8, 9 and 10 but that wasn't a bad thing because Clark was evolving. Glad Michael came back for the finale.

Michael did come back in the series finale and closed out his character beautifully! Nice job Michael!

Michael was fantastic as a conflicted frenemy of Clark. Ha masterly portrayed the evolution of Lex from Clark's friend to enemy and pulled it off in a way that you LIKED him and empathize with his turn to the darkside. Alfred and Miles are just straight up geniuses.

I'm just glad he came back for the Series Finale. Literally wouldn't have been the same if he didn't. Clark, Lex and their dynamic really made the show.

Those first four seasons were magical and he will always be the best Lex.

I love the fact they are so humble about it. "We did all we did, the show needed new ideas" kind of statement. They are there to entertain as a team. They see themselves as part of the show as opposed to being the show. Also kudos to Smallville. That show lasted a really long time. So many shows don't even make it past the pilot episode.

Another thing I don’t think people realize - 7 years is a long time to do one job. How many of us are still working at the exact same place we were 7 years ago? For actors, it can be great to have a long term show, but it also means they probably have to turn down other roles and opportunities. Shooting schedules - esp with 22 episode seasons - means being away from home, not seeing family as often, and working long hours. I’m sad when actors leave a show, but it makes sense.

I missed Michael when he left. Outstanding actor who brought so much to the show! Great decision by all. All the best gentlemen!

This was the best portrayal of Lex Luthor. His turn to the dark side was so beautifully nuanced. I will never forget the scene when the "essence" of Zod possessed Lex. That scene in the barn when "Zod" revealed himself to Clark made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and gave me a warm shiver. Trust me -- that is saying a lot and is a true testament to your "A" game. Mic drop!! 🔥🧡❤️💋💯

To be fair, Season 10 was a great culmination of the entire season, and it brought everything together and completed it perfectly. Love all you guys though.

I think Al and Miles leaving the show was felt during season 8, but I think the show found it’s footing again in season 9 and 10 which allowed Smallville to have a successful ending.

Smallville is seasons 1-7. After season 7 it became a different show, that could have been renamed "Metropolis" tbh. Thank you Michael for the best portrayal of Lex Luthor and Al and Miles for creating one of my all time favorite TV show!

I watched a bit of Smallville because my little brother followed the show. What I remember is Lex Luther CONSTANTLY telling people he'll "get the best doctors" or "specialists" for all different situations when someone was hurt. It felt like it happened every other episode

Huge fan of Rosenbaum as Luthor! He did a fantastic job playing the role. The show went on without him and it was still fun but many feel (myself included) that a hefty chunk of the show's draw was gone once he wasn't there anymore.

I think some fans don't get that Smallville was never suppose to be a Superman/Lois and Clark's show. The premices of the show were always about young Clark Kent's journey before his Superman days. For Lex Luthor it was about finding out why and how he went bad and the journey to friends from enemies with Clark. I think this is one of the reasons Al Gough and Miles Millar left at the end of season 7 when the show was still grounded in Smallville, they told the stories they wanted to tell. They even said in an other interview that their original plan was for the series to last 5 seasons but they kept going (most likely bc of the success). Smallville was about the origins stories of these characters., the stories that were never been told on screens before (or at least not that developed).

I still find myself going back and watching Smallville over and over again. Love the cast of all the characters. Lex was amazing character. I once went to get an autograph from Lex. But the weather turned really bad and so he never came to do autographs.

Sam Witwer certainly picked up that baton and ran with it. He did a great job in season eight. Him and Michael were fantastic in their roles. (I've yet to watch seasons nine and ten so I don't have an opinion on them. I saw the Justice Society two-parter and that's it.)

I was fortunate to get to watch 'Smallville' after it had finished airing all seasons. It set a nice precedent for other CW shows, and Michael was great in his role.

I absolutely loved Rosenbaum as Lex, truly the best live adaptation to date for me. That said, while I’m sad that Rosenbaum left, I’m glad the show shifted focus from continuous Lex vs Clark. The idea of Smallville was to portray how Clark Kent became Superman, and that included time without Lex or Smallville. Both Lana and Lex were constant reminders of smallville time and dwelling on his past. I’m glad Rosenbaum came back for the finale, I would’ve loved a little more time portray Lex but I’m personally very happy with seasons 8-10 and seeing Clark deal with problems that didn’t involve a Luther at the heart of it.

Have to say season 8 is probably one of my favorites together with 5 and 6. So it wasn't a bad thing. I need to watch 9 and 10 again as I can be 100% sure. Smallville as a series to me is still phenomenal!

Seasons 8-10 are my fave. Clark grew as a character (not to mention the evolution of Clark and Lois) and the storylines were chefs kiss 🤌🏾 they almost became movie like with the Continuous villain storylines and I loved it

Let me just say, Michael Rosenbaum...You are my Lex Luthor! I don't care if it's feature films, animated shows or tv...YOU Sir are and will always be the "standard" to which all others will be held against in my world. And I'm happy to say, none have come close to what you as an actor brought to life in that character. Was very sad to see you go, but perfectly understandable. Especially with some distance and hindsight and understanding of what led to that decision. Thank you very much for sharing that with us! Loved the show, have the box set...think it's time for a re-visit binge lol 😎 👍

For me Smallville wasn't the same when Lex,Lana and Lionel all left at pretty much the same time!

I just started watching Smallville in 2023 what a great show this is, just finished watching season 1 and now started season 2

To this day he remains my all-time favorite Lex Luthor, by far. He was the best part of the show, for me. Stellar work!

I missed the heck out of Michael Rosenbaum on the show,but then again I love everything he does. 😺

As we the audience enjoy these shows season after season, it's easy to forget how much creative time and effort they take from everyone in front and behind the camera. They're people, and some people get tired, bored, feel stifled, stuck and long to move on in their careers - just like any job. Similarly there are others who are perfectly happy with the stability and predictability.

I love the last few seasons as it became more of a superhero/comic book show. Clark, Lois & Oliver are my favourites so didn't really miss Lex or Lana 😉

Unpopular opinion maybe, but seasons 8 - 10 were amazing. Clark's character had become stagnant and stale for a few seasons there, and I credit that to him revolving so much around Lana. So when she finally left, I feel like he was finally able to grow more as a character and into the Superman dynamic. (I love all the Blur stuff). And Tess Mercer was a fantastic addition to the show. She was so similar to Lex, but her goodness ultimately prevailed. So, yeah, while I'm sad Michael left, I felt like the new creative team was exactly what the show needed to get exciting and fresh again.

I would've loved for Lex to be a large part of seasons 8-10 because those seasons really evolved Clark which was sorely needed after 7 seasons. 8-10 were overall pretty awesome seasons, actually some of the best, but they did lack from not having Lex.

Smallville is the only show that was live action based on comics that I've ever liked. Frankly, it's amazing how much better that everything THEN is better than every show that came after. Even the special effects and fight scenes were better 20 years ago than shows like titans, super girl, flash, etc

Smallville is possibly my favorite show of all-time. I enjoyed 8-10 simply because of Lois i feel like it was her time to shine. I'd be lying if if i didn't often say Lex wouldn't do that when a story unfolded.

I'm rewatching Smallville now, and damn he was so good in it, he really brought weight with it and duality .

This was a great segment. As someone who has almost 1000 shows under their belt (stage - for over 20 years - many repeat gigs) - I can totally respect their attitude here - move on - let someone else take something on - sometimes it is nice to be done with something, knowing you did a good job, and leaving it when you were still good on your game. Michael was incredible as lex - kudos to him for breathing incredible life into the well written and complex character of lex.

I think Michael, as a fairly young guy at the time, was also sick of shaving his head everyday

Alfred Gough and Miles Millar are criminally underrated. They did Shanghai Noon and some Spider-Man too. These days they would get millions more for their scripts.

Michael's take on as Lex was just awesome.

Mr. Rosenbaum, I’m so happy you came back towards the end of the show. No other person has yet to play as great a Lex Luther in live-action as you have through Smallville’s run.

and his career was never the same after, for him and for tom, they peaked, in the early 2000s

I'm happy Michael left the show, and Kristin too. First off, I want to say I love when characters go in and out of shows, it keeps them feeling fresh, characters being on a show forever feels repetitive and stale to me. Smallville is a show that wonderfully, especially thrives on evolution - While some fans favour periods over others, I'm fine with and love the dynamics of all the periods. Furthermore, Lana's romance with Clark and Lex's descent into villainy had truly run its course after seven seasons. Season eight feels like getting out of a warm shower and feels delightfully fresh, it revitalised the show with a proactive, no longer somewhat mopey, reflective Clark, and a bigger, more epic, stylish scale on the streets of Metropolis. The show also felt wonderfully sophisticated here. Season eight and nine are two of the show's strongest seasons, and season nine is a fantastically constructed arc of Clark and Lois' romance, Clark leading Kryptonians, and dealing with different factions of his expansive world like Checkmate and The Justice Society. The show is so wonderfully serialised here, with excitement and character development flowing so smoothly, with the constantly engaging storytelling, that I didn't actually know Smallville was capable of being quite this strong. I'm an unabashed season nine fan, it's the best Smallville's ever been I think. Season ten struggles with honing many different factions in its story into a cohesive, satisfying whole, and I think it also struggled with not having a clear, ultimate villainous presence to create a strong sense of threat like Doomsday and Zod. So many fans swear by Lex being the show, and him needing to be there, and I definitely don't see it. Season eight and nine truly elevated to me.

When Micheal left I left as well. Never watched the rest of the show. Watched the last episode though. Lex Luthor and his dynamic with his father and clark and Lana was the highlight of the show for me.

I like these two! I can see why they were a joy to have on the show.

Seasons 8 to 10 focused on the love story between Lois and Clark, which I found to be so beautiful! If Al and Miles were willing to watch those seasons I would love to hear their perspectives. Maybe when Talk Ville gets there

Agreed 💯 love Smallville! Probably my 2nd favorite show all time. But stuck around a few seasons too long. Glad MR reprised his role in season 10

Michael Rosenbaum had a presence, like James Gandolfini's Tony Soprano. They both stole the show. Every scene you see them in, it's always good and fun to watch!

That’s the most respectable take I’ve ever heard about moving on from a project like that. Passing the baton. Having trained the next batch to take it o er. V cool

Their final season was very rough, to be quite honest. Probably the worst season of the show, other than a couple episodes. And season 6 was pretty rough at times as well, with all of the Lex/Lana stuff. Season 8 felt like a rejuvenation with the writers being forced to take the series in a different direction. Bringing back Oliver and promoting him to main cast was a terrific decision, as was doing something as wild as Doomsday on a CW budget and turning him into a more tragic Hulk-like character. (They didn't stick the landing in the finale, unfortunately, but I think they overall did a very good job.) Tess was also a great addition to the crew. And season 9 ended up being one of my favorites of the entire series with Callum Blue's great take on Zod. Really enjoyed the final season as well, though their attempt at Darkseid didn't really work overall. I understand why everyone who left in season 7 did in fact leave. But I do think it forced the show to recreate itself and I largely believe that seasons 8-10 are better than 6 + 7. Really excited to see Michael and Tom go through those, especially Michael.

If there are any people who are smart in Hollywood still around, the first thing they should do if they're going to remake Superman is ask Rosenbaum to come back as Lex Luthor. And older Lex Luthor now. He would be fantastic and it would be a guaranteed blockbuster.

And yet Rosenbaum never went on to star in anything as big as his role as Lex. A tale as old as time.

Michael Rosenbaum always will live for me as the subtlest, more richly drawn, and best Lex Luther there ever was or can be.

John Glover was my MVP. He was fantastic as LL.

He definitely made a great Lex Luther probably the best we’ll ever see on screen. Thank you Michael

take me back, loved the show, by far best clark and lex, cant believe how long ago it was now, feels like yesterday watching season 1

One of the greatest shows to binge... FN phenomenal!

I just wish Lex had been given more screen time and purpose during the finale. In fact, it would have been better if he had returned for the last five or six episodes. His memory loss also should never have occurred.

It started to seem a little ridiculous that the show was still called Smallville after season 7. The only time we would even visit Smallville was when he was at the farm, and he would usually only be there for a scene or two. But then of course Lois kept calling Clark "Smallville" so one could make the argument that he was just the titular character now. A more apt title might've been "Perpetual Pre-Superman" or "Flightless Trench-Coat Superman". Hell, by that point, I think he was older than Christopher Reeve was in the first movie.

I sometimes rewatch the series finally, with Lex meets Clark again. I love that "Hello Clark"

You were phenomenal ✨️

Especially as a writer, going for that long to fulfill a contract can be difficult. You'll have burnout and become scraping the bottom of your barrel of ideas. It's good to have a team that grows to provide longevity. And as for actors, you'll want to go onto other projects. And some characters only have so many story beats to go through. If you can't expand very well, the franchise will have difficulties. ❤

Lex Luthor was dynamic and multidimensional. I really feel like the story of Smallville was more how Lex went from Morally grey to the villain.

Smallville was ALWAYS FRESH. And John Glover always made Smallville interesting and took Smallville to the NEXT LEVEL every time John Glove was on Smallville.

The crew of smallvile made my childhood amazing thank you for that

Seasons 8, 9, and 10 were amongst my favorite. I loved Tess Mercer. She did an incredible job not replacing Lex but being another great character in the show. Yes, Lex was missed but in a way, I feel the show needed a change from the Clark vs Lex vs Lana drama and needed to move forward. Clark needed to become Superman and the absence of Lex just made it better for the final episode toward the end. I could have gone without some characters like David Bloom/Dooms Day. Doomsday is too big of a villain for the resources the show had at the time and a more tone-down villain could have worked better. But over all for Lex and these other two to leave was a good move for the show. When you are out of ideas or lose passion for a character, you should stop and hand it over to someone with fresh ideas. Guy to the right, wrong answer lol He talks as if he has beef with the show continuing after he left. Guy with the hat to the left, Great answer! When you are out of mojo, train others and pass the torch so other can continue.

Seasons 8-10 were much better than 6-7 so good thing they left, I guess

Rosie, I’ll be honest,I used to think Lex was a boring comic book villain, BUT, You changed that opinion completely. You brought so much depth to the character and your representation of Lex made him such a figure to be feared. You’re literally one of my favorite live action villains and I can’t see anyone else playing a more perfect Lex than you. Thanks for all the time and hard work you put in on that show, Definitely want to make it to one of your convention appearances and grab an autograph,also to personally give you the praise and thanks for awesome work you’ve done

Mike, don’t forget to add your main channel to this channel’s “Channels” tab. That was the weirdest sentence I’ve ever written, but the point stands. Every channel has a Channels tab where u can put related channels. It would make finding the other one easier for someone who stumbles on a clip.

Michael is still to this day the best Lex without a doubt

Lex and Lionel help make that show great. For me the parts were Clark is finding himself and the caves and sort of mystical feeling it all had was really good. I think for me I felt around Season 5 it started to drag a bit and now understand why it was so different after Season 7 now as the last 3 seasons were clearly not the best seasons. For me the first 4 seasons were the best, season 5 was ok and I caught up on the rest with boxsets later on after it was on tv. Overall one of the best TV shows I've watched, even all round as a tv show. I love my Sci-Fi tv shows and Comic books etc. Stargate SG1 and Atlantis were great as well, then programs like Lost to House and more recently the OA and Dark. Some very good shows over the past 20 odd years creatively and loved the series V from the 80s as well. I think Supernatural was in the same boat as Smallville, really strong first 5 seasons story wise, then yeah it kinda just felt like add ons to the story, which is fine but it can start to get too one dimensional and the actors type cast as well. Personally even though Michael might not really want to, he would STILL be a great Lex, but I think he might want to be remembered for the "young" Lex rather than older version? Plus DC Studios WHY are they not capitalising on crossovers and multiverse stories like the Flash but with EVERYTHING just now on Big Screen and TV? It seemed they were, but now reboot and now get everything together? Why STUFF ALREADY EXISTS, just USE what is already there but add in new characters over time. Imo I've not really liked James Gunns attitude towards fans nor cast etc., don't understand how a gig at Marvel got him co-CEO of DC Studios considering a lot of his stuff is quite goofy and jokey and DC isn't like that to me, so yeah not sure about that guy at all, he keeps saying crap to the fans, no way to treat the fans or possible future paying customer etc. But Yeah Smallville was great! 👍🏽

IMO, it's admirable for people to leave a comfortable situation that provides a very nice livelihood because you just don't feel that you have more to give. That shows, just my opinion, great integrity and respect for the work.

Rosenbaum's Luthor is my favorite portrayed character in all of television. And I've watched A LOT of television. Only Wentworth Miller's Michael Scofield is a close second.

It's weird to say, because Lex was one of the best (if not THE best) character on the show, but the show actually got better after he left. It had more to do with the new showrunners than any actor changes, but the show had been on a bit of a downward trend for a couple years and season 8 was like a breath of fresh air, it felt revitalized.

I loved more Lois Lane and Oliver Queen story's in seasons 8-10. And Tess Lutessa Mercer was a fantastic addition. Other characters that I loved were Metallo, Toyaman both out the comics. The Justice Society episodes. The Legion episode. David Bloom aka Doomsday worked when it worked. The treatment of Jimmy Olsen and Kara was pretty bad and they deserved better. And I didnt like Zod and The kryptonians in season 9. Personally I missed Lex sure but the show was still great.

It has to be stated that so many writers suck at writing superman. The smallville crew of writers definitely deserve more praise of making a good show within WBs restrictions.

You were all Fantastic

Cut the shit, name your price and us DC fans will make sure you are in the next Justice League as Luther

Seasons 8-10 were pretty amazing just different, but in my opinion the arcs were just stronger than any other season. Clark actually evolved without Lana and Martha around. I think Tess was a great addition and was genuinely sad that she didn’t make it.

He was literally the BEST Lex Luthor in all of television & cinematic history!!! But it's so sweet he came back at the very end 😊

The show was different afterwards! And in its own way it suffered after you left. I am thankful the network allowed it to conclude in a satisfying way for fans that watched from the first episode to the last. 🎉

160 episodes is a long enough time to be doing anything in TV. I totally don't blame him for being ready to move on.

I wish I could say that the show got worse when they left. But fact of the matter is that the show had a lot of issues before season 7. Between storylines that never went anywhere due to issues both behind and in front of the camera, the storytelling got more and more Soapy alla 90210 and Melrose Place. I mean I will give them credit for staying so long, back then some creators/showrunners left after the first Season. Heck I use to watch Invisible Man and i think the creator basically gave the SCI-FI channel (now SyFy) the pilot and maybe 2 episodes and then he was gone

This channel has been popping into my feed for a while and enjoy all the videos. What I find hilarious is that it wasn't until this short that I found out that I've been watching Lex Luthor for the last year, and I loved Smallville back in the day! Thanks for the great content!

This may not be a popular take but I loved what the show became for seasons 9 & 10. Now, that's not saying I didn't miss Lex, because that is the one thing I would've definitely changed and kept, but the stories got more mature and DC centered. There was so much more going on with different plots. Acting was fantastic. The lead up to Clark becoming Superman was great to see....they really made it a slow burn yet kept it interesting. I just wish they had had more screen-time/stories with the Lois and Clark's relationship a couple of seasons earlier instead of the constant Lana thing, because they wrote L&C so multi-levelled and so well done, and of course Tom and Erica's chemistry as them together was insane.

Even though the show started getting better again at season 9, season 6 is the last one I really loved.

In retrospect, I think there were two key things that both made Smallville great and also signaled it's end. One was Michael's performance as Lex and how the loss of that was irreplaceable. And two was the chemistry between Clark and Lana was just so strong by the mid seasons that nobody could really replace that either even though the story called for it.

It's still a fun ride watching the progressive evolution of Lex, his friendship with Clark, and the wonderful portrayal of both characters by Tom and Michael. Also, the absence of Lex made Michael's return in season 10 awesome, especially when Lex and Clark have their reunion 😀

My biggest problem with Smallville was that Clark was floating above his bed in the pilot episode and never had another hint of ability to fly until the last episode of the show. He should have been flying by at least the 2nd season.

I'm very curious how it would've turned out if the network let the creators end the series when they were no longer interested in making more. No disrespect to those who came after, but I think the arc of it may have felt more satisfying if Al and Miles were given the opportunity to approach season 7 as the culmination and conclusion of everything they had done with the show. Some fun stuff happened in the last few seasons, but on the whole it felt like it was dragged out unnecessarily.

That it explains it. I still watched Smallville, but I didn't enjoy it as much.

They had to do what they felt was right. Not mad at them. I was a hardcore fan from Pilot to Finale!

Michael Rosenbaum is literally Lex Luther to me! He was my first Lex Luther growing up, second was Kevin Spacey. Michael has a place in my top 5 Goat actors of my Generation

It didn't feel like Smallville anymore after season 7. I kept watching bc of my love for the others characters but almost everything that made Smallville "Smallville" was gone : Clark & Lex's relationship, Clark & Lana's relationship, the Kents and Luthors juxtaposition, Al Gough and Miles Millar vision... The heart and soul of Smallville was gone so it became a completely different show. Also no others vilains after S7 could fill the void of Lex Luthor. Lex and Lionel Luthor (in the early seasons) were the best antagonists of the series.

As sad as it was, it was for the best because the show drastically improved in quality in Seasons 8-10.

"Trust me Clark...our friendship is going to be the stuff of legend." Best line ever.

The show actually became better once they left, how ironic.

I didnt watch Smallville, but my only impression from seeing the clips and commercials back in the day, is that the Lex actor was fuckin intense, different, and an actor that really stood out. Thats you, Michael! Now i know you as a silly billy buddy of the Bobby Lee.😋 it was cool to see you again on tigerbelly years later. Now i watch yo stuff on Inside of You! You did it, bruh! Keep on making these great podcasts, thank you!

I was depressed when you left Smallville. You and John glover were the glue. I always paid extra attention when you were talking. Loved the History lessons you would reference too from time to time

How the show bounced back afterward was a bit of a miracle considering Clark's issues.

I stopped watching after season 7 or something. When Clark Kent does not learn from his mistakes over and over and over again, what is the point?