CW’s highly anticipated drama, Beauty and The Beast, promises to be one of the exciting new shows to premiere this fall. This weekend at Comic-Con, we had a chance to sit down with series executive producers/co-showrunners Brian Peterson and Kelly Souders to talk about their role in bringing the series to television. Peterson and Souders have been writing and producing partners for over a decade after they first met at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. Both served as showrunning executive producers on the Emmy award-winning Smallville.

At a roundtable interview, they told us what attracted them to the story, how it evolved from the 80’s cult-classic CBS show that inspired it, how the look of the show is sleek but still retains a gothic undertone, how 9/11 was chosen to be part of the Beast’s backstory to appeal to a modern audience, and why it was exciting to explore the relationship between two very strong-willed and physically capable characters. They also compared Kristin Kruek’s character, Lana, in Smallville to her new character, Catherine, in Beauty and The Beast. Finally, they discussed the challenges of adapting the BATB story for the modern information age of Google, Facebook and Twitter and finding fun ways for two people to connect while retaining the mystery of their characters.  Check out our recap of the Beauty and the Beast panel and hit the jump for the interview.

The story of Clark Kent (Tom Welling) culminates in a two-hour finale this week, as the shy teenager from Smallville, that viewers met 10 seasons ago, finally takes the last steps to becoming the Man of Steel. Of course, with any finale, it’s difficult to please all of the fans, but when dealing with a mythology as popular as the story of Superman, it’s nearly impossible. However, executive producers/showrunners Brian Peterson and Kelly Souders are clearly proud of what they were able to do, in wrapping up as much as they could – whether it was with a Lois (Erica Durance) and Clark wedding, Clark’s friendship with Chloe (Allison Mack), the relationship between Chloe and Oliver (Justin Hartley), the threat of Darkseid and Apocalypse, and the return of Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) – and hope that the fans who have followed the series will get what they are looking for in this final Smallville episode.

At a recent press event for the finale, Brian Peterson and Kelly Souders talked about viewers finally getting to see the finale, balancing wrapping up the various storylines of 10 seasons with the journey of Clark Kent, the return of Lex Luthor and how close it came to not happening, the possibility of future glimpses of the characters, special features and extras that will be on the complete series DVD box set, and the emotional impact of the final moments of the series. They also said that, although there has been no talk yet of any spin-offs, they do think there will be a Smallville comic book, at some point. Check out what they had to say after the jump.

After ten years on television, The CW’s Smallville is close to airing it’s series finale.  While some might have thought the network would find a way to continue the adventures of Clark Kent as the ratings have been steady even after switching to Friday nights, The CW has just announced that Smallville will end with a two-hour finale on Friday, May 13.  In a statement, executive producers Brian Peterson and Kelly Souder said:

“Paying homage to 10 seasons is no small task, and wrapping up each character and story arc has been extremely important to everyone involved in the show.  We’re excited to be able to make the final moments of SMALLVILLE a television event, as the character we’ve grown up with makes his legendary transformation.”

What I love about this announcement is that it will hopefully lead to a great finale that wraps up a decade of storylines.  As a fan of the show, I’m hoping the last shot is Tom Welling as Superman, in the sky, overlooking Metropolis.   Hit the jump for the press release:

With the tenth and final season of CW’s Man of Steel series Smallville approaching fast, our first look at what’s coming this fall has finally been revealed in the form of a very teasing trailer. Though the video isn’t composed of entirely new footage (it features some quick flashes from the 9th season) there’s plenty of action. But perhaps the biggest tease comes at the very end when the rotating logo of The Daily Planet atop a Metropolis skyscraper has a red and blue blur quickly fly past. The biggest complaint from fans of Smallville and Superman has come from a lack of red and blue tights for the Man of Steel.  Continued after the jump:

The final season of Smallville is upon us and Clark Kent is ready to grow up to become Superman. In a quick roundtable interviews for the press, actors Erica Durance, John Schneider, Cassidy Freeman and Justin Hartley were in attendance. In addition, executive producer Brian Peterson and producer Kelly Souders were on hand to provide some insights to the final season.

Some of the conversations were about how Smallville was going to handle its final farewell tour with the story arcs and rumors of appearances of certain well known characters of the show. And the show’s producers also nixed the possibilities of spin-offs since it is too early to speculate.  So hit the jump for some of the highlighted conversations from the roundtable.

With Smallville entering its 10th and final season, we’ve just been sent a press release which confirms the show will be at Comic-Con Sunday, July 25.  Also, while Tom Welling only made his first Comic-Con appearnace last year, he must have enjoyed his stay in San Diego as he’s attending along with showrunners Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson, as well as series regulars Erica Durance, Cassidy Freeman and Justin Hartley.

The panel is Sunday at 10:00–11:00 a.m. in Ballroom 20 and it’ll feature an exclusive sneak peek at clips from the final season’s premiere episode and the panel will answer fans’ questions.  Writer/producer Geoff Johns (chief creative officer at DC Entertainment) will moderate.  Hit the jump for the full press release:

A few days ago I got on the phone with “Smallville” executive producer Brian Peterson. While the show moved to Friday nights this season, “Smallville” still has a loyal following as 2.5 million tuned in for last week’s episode. While that number might be low on any other night, you’ve got to remember Friday nights are a death sentence for every network and getting a few million to watch is pretty good especially since the CW isn’t one of the four major networks. With that being said, no one knows if this is the last season of “Smallville”. Anyway, when I spoke to Brian Peterson about the show, I asked his thoughts about a 10th season and got updates on a lot of other things.

The big news is the CW Network has been told there is a date when the network has to decide if “Smallville” is coming back, so if it isn’t, they can wrap up the storyline for the fans that have been watching from the beginning. Also, for fans of Geoff Johns, what was supposed to be a one part Justice Society episode is now a two-parter. We talked about a lot more so hit the jump to read the interview:

I am a comic book nerd.  That’s no news.  I see all the movies and buy far too many comic books for the limited space I have to keep them in.  I joined Smallville in its infancy and stuck through a couple seasons.  I liked the friendship between Clark Kent and Lex Luthor that the series started off with and the slow unraveling of that bond, but ultimately the meteorite powered villain of the week got tired.  The series had the whole DC Universe as a sandbox to play in and didn’t.  That oversight is rectified this season… in spades. My review after the jump:

At this year’s Comic-Con, the cast and showrunners of the popular CW show “Smallville” did roundtable interviews with the press right after their presentation ended. I’ve already posted the interview with showrunners Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson, and after the jump is an interview with Erica Durance (Lois Lane). During the interview she talks about what’s going to happen to Lois in season nine, where is her relationship with Clark going, filming her action scenes, and will we ever see Stiletto again:

Let’s just say “Smallville” has beaten many people’s expectations. After all, getting any show on the air is tough, but to keep enough fans interested so you get renewed for a ninth season, that’s next to impossible. But with the move to Friday’s this season, “Smallville” is doing just that. So to thank the fans, the cast and showrunners came to Comic-Con this morning to talk to the fans and show some footage. Shortly after their panel, I participated in a small roudnatble interview with showrunners Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson and what they said is after the jump. If you’re curious what is coming up in season nine, you’re going to want to read this interview: