New York Comic Con was the site of a return to Metropolis for fans of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, and for stars Teri Hatcher and Dean Cain. The pair was reunited at a panel celebrating the 25th anniversary of the hit ‘90s show, and for nearly an hour, they reminisced about the four seasons they spent together as one of pop culture’s most beloved couples.
When it comes to the chemistry they had on set, Cain and Hatcher set the standards for couples on superhero shows, and the easy rapport between the pair was actually a happy accident. Hatcher noted that the actors never screen tested together for the show, but according to both, their personalities always meshed and balanced each other out.
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Cain said that the show worked well because of their differing personalities, and because their characters followed suit. “Clark was sort of reactionary, but [Lois] ran the show, and the balance of our personalities worked really, really well,” he explained. “In virtually every scene, I had my partner and she would just drive the scene.”
The pair also talked about their favorite moments from the show. Hatcher noted that her favorite iconic moment from the show was in the pilot, when Superman flies Lois in through the window at the Daily Planet and sets her down in the crowded newsroom. (Her favorite full episode, however, was Season 1’s “Honeymoon in Metropolis,” because she loved the romantic comedy-esque tone.) While Cain loved that scene as well, his favorite moment in the series was when Clark proposed to Lois, as he felt that it encapsulated their entire relationship.
The moderator mentioned that another notable aspect of the show was the dynamic of the Clark/Superman characters. Where many other iterations show Superman as the true self, Lois &Clark follows comic writer John Byrne’s reinvention of the character, where Clark is the main person and Superman is the disguise. Cain was asked if he could have played the character any other way, and had a very simple answer: “No.” He laughed, and noted that as time went on, he much preferred playing Clark, with Hatcher joking it was just because he didn’t want to wear Superman’s iconic tights.
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Toward the end of their conversation with each other and the audience, the actors once again noted the longevity of the show’s influence, and the worldwide reach of the show. Cain reflected on a time just a few years ago that he was in the “middle of nowhere in China,” and as he walked down the street a man looked up and shouted “Superman!” at him.
“It’s great to be a part of this,” Hatcher said of belonging to the larger Superman mythos. “It doesn’t mean we were a bigger part or a smaller part than any of the others, each one is different and that’s great.”
“Except that we were a bigger part,” Cain added with a smile.