Ahead of the iconic DC series’ 25th anniversary, the cast of Smallville celebrated its legacy in Atlanta during Dragon Con 2026.

Running from 2001 to 2011, Smallville followed a young Clark Kent (Tom Welling) on his journey to become Superman. Along the way, he meets familiar DC faces such as Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum), Lois Lane (Erica Durance), Jimmy Olsen (Aaron Ashmore), and Oliver Queen/Green Arrow (Justin Hartley), among others. The series was a hit among critics and fans throughout the 2000s. Even now, its success on streaming bolsters its modern day fandom.

Among the cast members who attended were Welling, Durance, Cassidy Freeman (Tess Mercer), and Ashmore. Over Labor Day weekend, Dragon Con offered attendees the chance to se their favorite stars in person.

On Friday, the ladies of Smallville reunited to spill their insights from the set and beyond. Of particular interest, Durance and Freeman revealed their respective favorite episodes. For Durance, season eight, episode five “Committed” took the top spot. 

In that episode, Lois and Clark masquerade as an engaged couple to track down Jimmy and his fiancee Chloe Sullivan after their kidnapping. Alternatively, her least favorite moment of the show is her iconic bikini shot because she was terrified of the water. In order to film the moment—which ended up in the Smallville intro—Durance had three stuntmen ready to catch her.

 Meanwhile, Freeman crowned season 10’s ”Fortune,” which is a Hangover-like story in which the cast retrace their steps to find out what happened after a party the night before, as her favorite. She elaborated that she enjoyed the scenes where Tess sings alongside recurring star Alessandro Juliani as Emil Hamilton. Freeman’s choice caused Durance to recall the amusing detail that she taught costar Justin Hartley how to walk in high heels.

Durance and Freeman also addressed the legacy of Smallville and their characters. Tess “was an important cog in a very large wheel,” Freeman said of her role in shaping Clark and Lex’s future destinies. Durance acknowledged the impact of Smallville and its fanbase, noting that her chemistry with Welling is a big factor in the series’ enduring appeal. Even when the stars reunited for the Arrowverse’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” she noted that they “hadn’t missed a beat” despite it having been nearly a decade since Smallville.

Smallville Cast Share What Made The DC Series Iconic

On both Saturday and Sunday, the full roster of attending cast members assembled to celebrate Smallville, with fans lining all the way outside and around the corner to catch their reunion panels. During those appearances, Welling, Durance, Freeman, and Ashmore reminisced on their time together and took questions directly from the fans.

“I think part of what made the show do so well and everybody feel really comfortable in the show is [Welling] maintained that attitude of ‘Hey, I’m the Clark guy,’” Durance said during the Sunday panel. “So the rest of us felt like we could be welcome on the set. I’ve been on sets where you show up and people… like their ego is like two miles before them.”

This earnest quality that Welling and Clark share came from a genuine place. However, the actor noted that Clark’s naivete and unawareness of his heroic future was a key factor in how he approached the character. 

“One of the beautiful things about Clark is [that] I was able to, because he didn’t know who he was going to be or how he was going to get there, I constantly reminded myself of playing him that way,” Welling explained. “So as conflicted as he was… I mean a lot of times, especially earlier with Lana, there’s moments where he really didn’t know what to do.”

As a result, he continued this coming-of-age story “propelled [Clark] to understand himself and his destiny a little bit more.” What made Smallville special is the humanity that the performers brought to the DC icons they portrayed, fleshing them out in a way that few television series had done before. Reinterpreting these characters as younger and contemporary to the 2000s setting only made them more relatable.

Ashmore discussed this as well, noting how he pushed “to give Jimmy a little bit more outside of what we sort of knew” so he was not “just the Gee Willikers” sidekick type anymore. Welling echoed Ashmore by highlighting how Smallville’s unique identity made it special.

“I think if it had been called ‘Young Superman’ I think it would have been different,” he added. “This was Smallville […] This was something that hadn’t existed before and was going to do its own thing.” 

That’s precisely what made Smallville a beloved part of the DC canon, one that Dragon Con allowed fans from Atlanta and beyond to show their love for ahead of its 25th anniversary.