Arrowverse Producer Reveals Abandoned Plans to Return Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor in CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS

Arrowverse Producer Marc Guggenheim he recently revealed what he was planning Michael RosenbaumLex Luthor on The CW Crisis on Infinite Earths crossed. Yes, there were ideas to bring Rosenbaum back as Lex and the producers even reached out to the actor to talk about returning, but Rosenbaum told them no.

The actor previously explained why he turned down the opportunity, saying: “[Warner Bros.] I called my agents Friday afternoon… Their offer: no script. I have no idea what I’m doing. I have no idea when I’ll shoot. Basically no money. And the real kick in the ass: “We need to know now.” My simple response was ‘Passed.'”

Now Guggenheim is sharing these plans with Lex, saying: “When we committed to Michael to appear in Crisis – thanks in large part to the efforts of Stephen Amell – we had already shot the Smallville reunion scene in the second hour. However, I couldn’t see I was looking forward to working Michael’s Lex into the story if I could, so my brain started working on options that could fit into the episodes we were still shooting.”

He added: “I forgot the impetus of the story for them, but I thought about a version where Michael’s Lex would interact with Jon Cryer’s Lex, which I think would have been pretty fun if that had happened.”

Maybe they should have pitched it to Rosenbaum if they wanted to have a real chance of making it happen. What’s done is done, though, and it was at least nice to look at Smallville stars Tom Welling AND Erica Durance they return as Clark and Lois in the series.

It was a missed opportunity to see Rosenbaum play Lex again, but it’s not hard to see why the actor said no. The creative team simply didn’t get it right before approaching him.