The Arrow-verse’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover featured a lot of appearances by Superman. Brandon Routh (Superman Returns), Tom Welling (Smallville), and Tyler Hoechlin (Supergirl) all took on the role again. Routh played Golden-era Superman, while Welling and Hoechlin reprised their roles from their television shows. There was almost one more Superman-esque cameo to add to the trio's spate!
SYFY’s Krypton was the two-season series that transpired on Superman’s home planet. Among the characters that it followed was his grandfather, Seg-El, played by Cameron Cuffe. Well, it turns out that Superman’s grandpa almost showed up in the Arrow-verse’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” On Twitter, Cameron Cuffe revealed that it came close to happening. After thanking Marc Guggenheim and everyone who made "Crisis" possible, and admitting that The CW shows led the way for Krypton, Cuffe wrote:
I’m sad I wasn’t able to put on the ‘S’ once more and stand alongside some of my heroes. We tried, we wanted to make it happen, but I had already committed to something and we couldn’t make it work. It happens in this game.
These things happen. Scheduling can be a real sticking point when it comes to getting actors on a television show. In the case of Krypton’s Cameron Cuffe, things ended up not coming together. The Arrow-verse had been ambitious in getting numerous cameos at the expense of more elaborate fight sequences, but this one just wasn't meant to be.
Another of the cameos that did not work out was with Smallville’s Michael Rosenbaum for different reasons than the Krypton star’s. Considering all of the Superman action, it would have been neat to have had his grandpa on board. Sometimes things do not always work out. Just ask Nicolas Cage.
Last year, Marc Guggenheim acknowledged reaching out to Nicolas Cage for a cameo in the Arrow-verse crossover. Cage was set to play Superman in Tim Burton’s 1998 film – Superman Lives, which ended up never being made. Neither did the cameo. So, Krypton’s Cameron Cuffe joins Cage in not landing a role in “Crisis on Infinite Earths.”
While there were three versions of Superman, they would have all had the same grandpa. Right? There is still hope a visit from gramps could occur. Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman is getting his own Arrow-verse spinoff, so maybe a Krypton cameo can happen there. Perhaps Superman’s grandfather left him an important message for the future.
Either way, it would be a good way to tie together Krypton and the upcoming Superman series. It did not end up happening for the Arrow-verse crossover. For his part, though, Cameron Cuffe expressed hope in a later tweet regarding his and DC Comics’ “paths” crossing again. Television has a strange way of bringing actors back together with properties, so you never know.
While Legacies might have just ruled out an Arrow-verse connection, the Superman series should not. Fans will have to stay tuned to see if the status of any potential cameos from Superman’s grandpa changes. There are probably a lot of fans hoping it does.
Arrow is one of many series returning new this winter. New episodes air Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW. You can currently relive past Arrow-verse crossovers on Netflix, as TV now brings us a lot of new 2020 content.
