Michael Rosenbaum leaves SMALLVILLE - Official Statement
We have known for a while that Kristen Kreuk (Lana Lang) and Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor) wouldn't be back for Season 8 of SMALLIVLLE, but only recently did Executive Producers Darren Swimmer, Todd Slavkin, Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson; The CW Network; and Warner Bros. Television release a joint statement about the departure of Michael Rosenbaum:
"It has been an honor and pleasure to work with Michael for the past six seasons. He is one of the best actors on television and has never failed to bring a new layer to the character of Lex Luthor in every episode. While Michael won't be a series regular and we won't have the pleasure of working with him on a weekly basis this fall, we like to think that we haven't seen the last of Lex Luthor. Stay tuned."
Below you can also read a letter that Michael Rosenbaum himself wrote to fans of the show:
Dear Smallville Fans,Well, it's been seven wonderful years. Your support is what has made Smallville so successful, and I appreciate you all more than you know.
That being said, it is time for me to start the next chapter of my life and career. I hope that I gave you some enjoyment over the years, and that you found my portrayal of Lex Luthor to be satisfying. I am truly grateful, as Smallville fans are the best fans out there. I sincerely hope that you will continue to follow my career through my hair growth period and beyond.
I'm very excited about what the future holds, but certainly, Smallville will always be a part of me. I will definitely miss the greatest crew in the world, and the wonderful cast that has been like a family to me.
Thank you Al and Miles for creating the show. Thank you writers, producers, directors and editors. Thanks Tollin, Robbins and Davola for being there for the pilot. Thank you Peter Roth for employing me for ten years. Lisa Lewis, I miss you already. John Glover, thanks for helping me feel more comfortable touching other actors, while acting. Bizarre, but helpful.
Mostly, I want to thank Greg Beeman for directing the "Oh Sherry" video, by Steve Perry, back in the 80's.
Thanks crew. Thanks fans. Thanks Smallville.
I love you all,
Michael Rosenbaum
Finally some details about Season 8 of Smallville have also been released:
Additionally, two new villains will join the cast of characters on "Smallville" this season: the legendary, unstoppable Doomsday, and a female antagonist who will challenge Clark in ways never before imagined. Casting is underway for both roles.
Doomsday: In season eight, Clark will face his ultimate challenge with the appearance of the legendary, unstoppable destroyer Doomsday, who appears on "Smallville" for the first time. As comic book fans know, Doomsday is notorious for being the only character in the DC Comics universe to have killed Superman.
Female villain: Doomsday won't be Clark's only nemesis in the upcoming season. The executive producers are tight-lipped about a new female villain they will be introducing, but they can say she will be familiar to many fans and will set her sights on Clark in ways Lex never could. Intelligent, brilliantly manipulative, and dangerously sinister, our gorgeous new villain has one more weapon in her arsenal: Her mutual attraction with Clark may prove to be as deadly as kryptonite for him.
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I had to stop watching Smallville after May 2007 because of my new schedule, and have sorely missed it - but if Michael Rosenbaum is leaving, I don't miss it quite as much. I understand he needs to move on, and I'll watch his career - he's got a bright one ahead. He was fan-freakin'-tastic as Lex. But to hear they're bringing in Doomsday? When we're still supposed to be barely out of the Superboy years?? The producers or writers or whoever are the so-called brains behind this show obviously don't care what those of us who've actually read the comic once or twice think. Sorry, Lex - I won't shed a tear for your character disappearing now.
I have stuck with this show thru thick and thin in the hopes that the creators had an ark planned and that it was all kinda going to plan. to hear now that almost ALL of the original people behind it are gone, that lex and lana are gone. albeit they seem to imply lex is going to wrap up loose ends is cool, but lana is just poof gone, is lame. to top all that off by putting doomsday in is just lame. if they do it like the guys who made doomsday are looking thru planets or something, ok. superman faces doomsday when he isat his peak and hardened and well, i dunno superman!! able to fly superman! having it now, just silly, i accepted their take on bizzaro even but this, this idea of doomsday is just weird and money grabbing, not plan pleasing.
Smallville won't be worth a shit once michael leaves the show. Isn,t lex luthor Supermans nemisis? What the hell is going on with this show?????????
It is obvious that the writers and producers are being selfish now, and desperate. They are draining Smallville, and insulting the fans intelligence.
Doomsday? How the hell is that going to work? I think Rosenbaum left because he knew that the writers heart was no longer in the right place for the fans.
Clark should have dawned his cape and flew off as Superman two years ago. The writers were great at first, in how they reinvented the franchise and I was very impressed, but they did not end this story when they should have, and they know it. They are lazy now. It's sad that Smallville is going out like this, and I see no way that they are going to redeem this once great show in the season Finale.
I hate that lex has left the show but I sill continue to watch the show faithfully. I hope all the bs comments coming from everyone else isn't making the show think of canceling.