One face fans should not expect to make an appearance in the Arrowverse‘s hotly-anticipated “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover is that of Krypton star Cameron Cuffe. The British-born actor played Superman’s grandfather, Seg-El on SYFY’s DC prequel series. Despite the heavy dose of skepticism surrounding the premise, the show earned positive reviews and impressive ratings when it debuted in 2018. Sadly, the numbers dropped significantly across its sophomore outing. As a result, the cable network axed both Krypton and its planned Lobo spinoff directly after the former’s season 2 finale.
The Arrowverse, however, has continued to thrive on The CW. Kicking off with Arrow in 2012, the shared DC universe quickly expanded to include The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow. They were later joined by Supergirl, which began life on CBS before switching networks ahead of its own second season. Over the last few years, the annual crossover has become a staple of the collective shows. The latest will be their most ambitious yet and will adapt the seminal 1985 storyline. The five-hour event will see a host familiar faces – including Smallville‘s Tom Welling as Superman and his former co-star Erica Durance as Lois Lane. That particular corner of the world will also be represented by Brandon Routh suiting up as Kingdom Come Superman and Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch reprising their roles as Supergirl‘s own Man of Steel and Lois Lane, respectively.
Posting on Twitter, however, Marc Guggenheim revealed that they came close to an even bigger House of El reunion. As the creator of Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow, Guggenheim has served as a writer and producer on both shows. He also contributed to each crossover. Guggenheim co-wrote the Crisis of Infinite Earths adaptation with the original comic writer, Marv Wolfman. Responding to a request that he get Cuffe for the episodes, Guggenheim replied (along with a sad face image) that they actually tried but that they “couldn’t make the dates work“. The full post can be seen in the space below:
Guggenheim recently penned an episode of Amazon’s Carnival Row and is also reportedly helping to develop a True Lies TV show, based on the 1994 film of the same name. Cuffe, meanwhile, previously starred in a number of movies. It’s unclear what led to him being unavailable for the crossover. Equally, the plot of the Crisis on Infinite Earths adaptation and how faithful it will be to the acclaimed source material remains firmly under lock and key, subject to Marvel-like spoiler protections. The storyline will, however, impact The Flash as early as the first episode. It will also introduce Black Lightning‘s characters into the wider fold for the first time.
Krypton fans eager for a reprieve from the recent cancelation will no doubt be disappointed by the news. There, however, remains plenty for fans to look forward to from what is widely being considered an Endgame-level event. And although season 8 will be Arrow‘s last, each of the other shows will continue – with even more spin-offs planned to fill the void left by The CW’s inaugural offering. As such, fans can probably expect future crossovers and brief merges of the individual shows. Given that, there’s always a chance Cuffe will make an appearance at some point down the line.
Crisis on Infinite Earths will begin on The CW on December 8
