With Supernatural boasting 15 seasons and Smallville with 10 seasons on The CW during roughly the same time period, it’s no surprise that some actors have ties to both shows. The former follows monster-hunting brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester, as they help their father, John, avenge their mother’s death and go on to fight most supernatural and cosmic entities, including God. Smallville, on the other hand, is a detailed origin story about Superman and how his alias, Clark Kent, navigates the real world while trying to protect those he cares about from his enemies.
Despite massive thematical and tonal differences, these two shows share more than just actors as there was almost a Smallville/Supernatural crossover. Sadly, this didn’t come to be, but fans got the next best thing with Smallville‘s lead, Tom Welling, making a guest appearance on Supernatural‘s prequel The Winchesters as the brothers’ grandfather. While fans didn’t get to see a Superman and Team Free Will team up, it’s intriguing to see how many actors worked together either before Supernatural on Smallville or vice versa.
13 Sara Canning As Lydia / Kat
Supernatural Season 7 / Smallville Season 8
Canning’s Lydia, an Amazon woman part of a tribe that kills men after sleeping with them in order to procreate, is memorable because her one-night stand with Dean introduced an unexpected role in season 7, namely Dean as a dad. While Sam ultimately has to shoot her to save Dean, this episode with Lydia was an entertaining look at just how wrong some of Dean’s hookups can go. On Smallville, which featured Canning first, she was also only in one episode in season 8 as Tess Mercer’s personal assistant, Kat.
12 Ian Tracey As Lee Chambers and Ishim / Lincoln Cole
Supernatural Season 7 and 12 / Smallville Season 5
Tracey’s time on Supernatural included two smaller yet impactful characters, namely Lee Chambers, a hunter who eventually dies and has a daughter named Krissy, and Ishim, an angel commander who despises Castiel after the angels fell. He’s killed by Castiel after he fights off Sam and Dean who try to help Lily, an angel-powered human who wants to avenge her daughter’s death. His role on Smallville was also menacing as Lincoln kidnaps Lionel Luthor and torments him with puzzles and riddles, then later captures Martha Kent to further Lionel’s torment.
11 Emmanuelle Vaugier As Madison / Dr. Helen Bryce
Supernatural Season 2 / Smallville Season 2 and 3
Vaugier’s Supernatural role is integral since it’s the first real love interest Sam has after his girlfriend, Jessica, is killed. Madison is a werewolf that Sam and Dean try to cure, but to no avail. Upon realizing she will be a werewolf forever and because she doesn’t want to kill more innocent people, she asks Sam to kill her. Because of their budding romance, this is a challenge, but Sam follows her wishes, further adding to his trauma.
In Smallville, she plays recurring character, Dr. Helen Bryce, Lex Luthor’s second wife. Helen, despite claiming to love Lex, instigates a ploy to crash their plane while on the way to their honeymoon at the end of season 2. Then, she sells a vial of Clark’s blood to Lionel and informs Morgan Edge about it. Her character lies frequently, attempts to kill Lex, and still gets away. Her arc ended with Lex finally figuring out her schemes.
10 Robert Picardo As Wayne Whittaker Jr. and Leprechaun / Edward Teague
Supernatural Season 6 / Smallville Season 4
While Picardo’s appearance in Supernatural was after his two-episode stint on Smallville, it was part of one of the more bizarre episodes. He plays a leprechaun posing as Wayne Whittaker Jr., a UFO-specialist. In the episode, fairies and the leprechaun require firstborn sons to be killed in exchange for being summoned. While he promises Sam a way to retrieve his soul, a key goal of season 6, Sam defeats him and completes the spell to send the fairies and the leprechaun away.
Picardo plays Edward Teague on Smallville, a lawyer and member of the Veritas society, seeking The Traveler (Clark). He’s also the father of Jensen Ackles’ Jason Teague, who died at the end of season 4. After both his wife and son die, Edward joins a priesthood offscreen, subdues Clark with a Kryptonian ritual, and later dies in a plane crash after Brainiac threatens him.
9 Julia Maxwell As Eve / Mary Pierson
Supernatural Season 6 / Smallville Season 8
While Eve is short-lived considering how powerful her character was meant to be (she’s known as the Mother of All), Maxwell portrays her mysterious essence with unsettling calmness, like when Eve walks into a bar and turns everyone there into hybrid supernatural beings. Her time on Smallville before this also had her possessing unique powers. She stars in one episode as Mary Pierson, a metahuman with electrical powers who attends Chloe’s counseling meetings at the Isis Foundation. Despite her interesting powers, as she can turn on lights and boost electrical charges in electronic devices, she meets her demise after being snatched by Davis in his Doomsday form.
8 Christopher Heyerdahl As Alastair / Zor-El
Supernatural Season 4 / Smallville Season 7
Heyerdahl’s portrayal of the demon Alastair, hell’s grand torturer, is convincing, from his sadism and chilling voice to his masochism. He’s a crucial part of Dean’s character arc since he tortures him in hell for 30 years, breaking him until he himself became a torturer. It’s no surprise this leaves a lasting impact on Dean’s self-image and emotional stability, which he reveals in a heart-to-heart to Sam in mid-season 4. On Smallville, Heyerdahl has some similar qualities since he is a controlling scientist on Krypton essentially responsible for his home planet’s destruction. He is even willing to kill his own daughter, Kara, and manipulates his nephew, Clark, in an attempt to conquer Earth.
7 Tyler Johnston As Samandriel and Matt Pike / Randy Klein
Supernatural Seasons 1 and 8 / Smallville Season 8
Johnston’s first appearance with the Winchester brothers was in one of Supernatural‘s worst episodes, “Bugs,” where he plays Matt, a kid fascinated by insects. Later, he plays an angel, Samandriel, who gets tortured by Crowley’s demons, breaking his angelic link. This helps Crowley find out about the angel tablet. While under Naomi’s control, Castiel comes to rescue Samandriel, who refuses to return to heaven after revealing its secrets, then gets assassinated by Castiel.
Like Maxwell, Johnston also plays a Kryptonite-infected character on Smallville, Randy Klein, who has the ability to transform into a shadow-like form. He appears in the same Smallville episode as Maxwell and even attends the same counseling session. He causes havoc by attacking Jimmy Olsen and Davis and claiming to be the serial killer on the loose at the time, so he can get attention. Although his character is troubled, his fate is unclear after Tess offers him a position on her team of super-powered individuals.
6 Tahmoh Penikett As Gadreel / Wes Keenan and Vince Davis
Supernatural Season 9 / Smallville Seasons 3 and 6
Penikett plays an important role on Supernatural as the disgraced angel Gadreel. He helps heal Sam by secretly possessing him after Sam attempts to close the gates of hell. After helping Metatron, who manipulates him into killing Kevin Tran, he turns to help the Winchesters defeat Metatron, making him a big part of season 9’s story. Penikett plays two characters on Smallville, Vince Davis in season 3 and Wes Keenan in season 6. Vince dies from a liver disease, resurrects himself with the Lazarus serum, but ultimately succumbs to the disease again. Wes is a childhood friend and ex of Lois, later becoming a soldier. After supposedly dying in active duty, he becomes a successfully engineered super-soldier, a prototype orchestrated by LuthorCorp.
5 Samantha Ferris As Ellen / Warden Anita Stone
Supernatural Seasons 2, 5-6 / Smallville Season 4
One of the saddest Supernatural deaths was Ellen’s, and Ferris does a compelling job at portraying the no-nonsense bar owner and hunter. She offers a strong female presence in the earlier seasons, quickly becoming a staple member of Sam and Dean’s chosen family. Her return in season 6 as Bobby’s wife, thanks to a rewriting of history, is a bittersweet look at the character and her importance to Bobby and the brothers. Conversely, Ferris’ Smallville appearance is as a guest star, playing the role of Warden Anita Stone. Stone’s purpose in the only episode she’s in is to inform Lionel that his conviction for killing his parents has been overturned.
4 Ty Olsson As Benny / Officer Talbert
Supernatural Seasons 8 and 10 / Smallville Season 8
Olsson portrays the vampire Benny in Supernatural who helps Dean escape Purgatory. His character, with his deep motivations to avenge his soulmate’s believed death, character growth with keeping a watchful eye on his only living descendant, dedication to not killing, and unfaltering commitment to helping Dean are what make him a memorable character on the show. Not only does he offer Dean a type of friendship fans rarely see him experience, but he sacrifices himself to a life of Purgatory to bring Sam back. Olsson’s Smallville character is a corrupt cop, Talbert, who tries to murder a powerless Martian Manhunter.
3 Adrianne Palicki As Jessica Moore / Lindsey Harrison (Kara)
Supernatural Season 1, 2, and 5 / Smallville Season 3
Palicki may have a small role in terms of screen time, but her role as Jessica on Supernatural is a primary force behind Sam’s motivation to join hunting, his hangups around love and relationships, and his experience with grief. After Jessica dies in the same way as the Winchesters’ mother, Sam has visions of her, as well as dreams, which are later revealed as mind-tricks played on him by Lucifer. Prior to appearing in Supernatural, Palicki showed up at the end of Smallville season 3 as a resurrected car crash victim masquerading as Kara, a Kryptonian woman who tries to lure Clark away from the Kents.
2 Alaina Huffman As Abbadon / Dinah Lance and Black Canary
Supernatural Seasons 8-9 / Smallville Season 7-10
Huffman portrays Josie, a woman who gets possessed by the Knight of Hell, Abaddon. Abbadon is a crucial villain who tries to take over hell and is the reason Dean seeks the First Blade, which leads to him bearing the Mark Of Cain. While a pain for Team Free Will, her charisma and sheer power make for compelling storylines in season 8 and 9. On Smallville, Huffman in on the good side as superhero Black Canary, with alter-ego Dinah Lance. Across her three seasons as a recurring character, she joins the Justice League, working closely with the Green Arrow.
1 Jensen Ackles – Dean Winchester / Jason Teague
Supernatural Season 1-15 / Smallville Season 4
Supernatural veteran, Ackles, plays fan-favorite Dean and season 4 regular, Jason Teague, the son of Picardo’s Smallville character. As Jason, who he played first, he’s a college student who assistant-coaches Smallville High’s football team and dates Lana after meeting her in Paris on a trip his mother encouraged. However, he works with his mother to locate Kryptonian stones that form the crystal that unlocks Clark’s Fortress of Solitude. In doing so, his mother is killed and Jason holds Clark’s parents hostage as he believes Clark is the key. Ultimately, Jason dies in a meteor shower. Arguably his most notable role, Ackles’ Dean is a complex and flawed hero who faces loss, inner conflict, and astronomical challenges right up until his heartbreaking death in the Supernatural series finale.
