'Superman & Lois' Season 4 Premiere: Death Explained

(Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the first two episodes of Superman & Lois' fourth and final season, “The End & the Beginning” and “A World Without”.)

It's not just Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) who dies brutally on The CW drama in the first episode of last season, but how can the Kent family even grieve when Lex Luthor (Michael Cudlitz) is in Smallville and plans to stay?

Clark's battle with Doomsday has a heartbreaking ending, but that's not the only big moment Superman & Lois' Two-part premiere. As Lois (Elizabeth Tulloch) mourns the loss of her husband, Lex forces her to choose a son: Jordan (Alex Garfin) or Jon (Michael Bishop). She does choose (we don't know which), but luckily both are fine. Lex is also looking for his daughter Elizabeth (who we know is played by Elizabeth Henstridge thanks to a photo on his wall).

Below, showrunners Todd Helbing and Brent Fletcher discuss breaking out of an iconic comic arc and killing Superman, bringing him back, Lex and more.

Superman's death is in the comics, but talk about starting the final season like you did.

Todd Helbing: We had been thinking about this idea for some time, and as we prepared the end of season three, we knew we were going to do it. And I think it was solidified when we knew we had 10 episodes left. It felt like it was the right story to tell. As always, we draw inspiration from the comics and these iconic runs, and we just wanted to express our inspiration Superman & Lois little spin on it. We have the advantage of people engaging with our characters for 43 hours. So we felt we could do the story justice and tell it in a fresh, new way and make it as emotional as possible. There's a lot of freedom knowing it's the last season. So our philosophy was to cram as much story, as many twists and emotional punches into the final season as possible and hopefully thank the fans for sticking with us throughout.

Colin Bentley/The CW

This allows you to tell the story of how Lois and the boys interact with each other and how they move forward, which we begin to see in Episode 2. What will we see there next? Can they hold together in their grief or will it divide them?

Brent Fletcher: I think a little bit of both. I think because it's three people, that's a great thing for a drama. I think two of them will stay together and then I think Jordan obviously becomes an outlier in that everyone has the right intention but maybe not the right approach and everyone struggles with that. In such moments we are not always at our best. So we felt like it was a good dynamic for the family. But it's the Kent family and even in the worst of times, they're always there for each other. I mean, that's one of the things about the show, it's uplifting. So we felt like it would be nice to play that – the drama of people suffering, people making bad decisions but still having each other's backs is kind of the fuel that drives our show.

What can you say about the journey that brought Clark back?

Fletcher: We talked about it a lot. If we decide to do something like that, the question arises: how long do you leave him dead where that's not the case – where you want to earn everything. If we kill him, we want to feel it and earn it, not just have him come back. So if we want to do this, we have to be with the family for a while so they can feel it. And when he comes back, if we want to get him back, the means by which he gets back to the family and the Earth has to be elaborate and emotional and feel like it's worthy of bringing him back. These are the big conversations you have because at the end of the day you don't want it to feel like someone just cast a spell and presto, they're back. You want it to be earned. Once you've taken a big step, always consider the consequences and never take shortcuts. That is why we have tried very hard not to take any shortcuts when it comes to killing and repatriation.

There's also the threat of Lex in Smallville, especially now that he knows who Jordan is. What can you say about Lex's plans and how Lois will handle having him around? She not only has to think about herself, but also about her children.

Helbing: I think Lex was systematically trying to escape or get rid of all the protection around Lois in order to then pursue her and make her pay, so to speak, for the 17 years he lost in prison. And once he finds out who Jordan is, all he has to do is take one more chess piece off the board. And the thing about Lex is that he has this kind of code that he follows, and it's not necessarily the right code, but it's right for him and for what he believes is justice, and Jordan becomes a part of that Justice. Just because he's a kid doesn't mean he's going to be easier to deal with than everyone else, so things will be a little scary for Jordan at times this season.

That call forced Lois to make a heartbreaking decision. How will this split-second decision affect the future? How does she deal with it?

Fletcher: Yes, I mean, we did it on purpose because I can't remember in which episode she gives her explanation for it, but it still hurts not to be chosen. These are the things in life that stay in your memory. And we felt like it was good to dramatize that and let it play into their relationship. Making one child feel less than the other child is something that brothers and all siblings feel, and putting that into a heightened superhero type of engine was something we thought was really exciting. And this “choose one or the other” call is so fun. So yeah, we'll play with it non-stop for a while until a solution comes up later.

Lex is looking for his daughter, he knows that Sam (Dylan Walsh) knows where she is and after seeing the photos he has, when will we see Elizabeth Henstridge on screen and what can you about say what is coming to us there?

Helbing: You will see her again soon. I don't know if I want to tell you exactly what episode it is, but sooner rather than later. I think Elizabeth will really give the audience insight into who Lex really is as a person, as a father, as a husband. And I just think that when you see the relationship, you'll understand a little better where Lex is coming from.

Additionally, Lana (Emmanuelle Chriqui) struggles with fighting back against Lex and the danger her family would face.

Fletcher: Yes, we love that. We talked about each character's journey and how we could give them a fitting ending, and we felt this was a really good start for them. Having Lana, the mayor of Smallville, someone protecting Smallville, and now all of a sudden this evil influence has come into her town, and bringing her into conflict, we thought that would be a really good story engine and that we could do that do some things that might be surprising. It's not finished yet. It starts early in the season, but there's more to come and I think it's pretty dramatic. And Lana has her hands full, that's what I'm saying.

Superman & LoisMondays, 8/7c, The CW