10 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About Smallville

8. The Green Arrow Spin-Off That Never Was

Smallville Supernatural Crossover
The CW

Way before The CW launched Arrow in 2012, plans were afoot for Justin Hartley's Green Arrow to get his own Smallville spin-off show.

Hartley was a part of Smallville for a whopping 72 episodes across five seasons, but the plans for an Emerald Archer spin-off began after just two appearances from the Green Arrow. That was back towards the end of 2006, with producers opening dialogue with Hartley over spearheading his own series which may or may not end up becoming a full-on Justice League show.

The reason for this show not moving forward past the idea stage, was down to Justin Hartley. The actor politely shot the idea down, with him believing that any such Green Arrow series could take away from what Smallville had achieved in its previous five seasons. Basically, Hartley didn't want to steal any of Smallville's spotlight.

Instead, Hartley's Master Bowman would remain a semi-permanent part of Smallville up until the show came to a close in 2011. And with a Green Arrow itch still to scratch, it came as no surprise that The CW moved forward with an Oliver Queen show barely a year after Smallville's final episode aired.

Additionally, Hartley actually headlined an Aquaman pilot before landing the Green Arrow gig in Smallville. That Aquaman offering, which is widely available to watch online, didn't get picked up for a full series order largely due to bad timing - with the potential show falling victim to the merger of The WB and UPN that saw The CW created.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.