A Network Merger Doomed the Aquaman Pilot, Smallville Creators Reveal Why Justin Hartley Replaced Alan Ritchson in DC’s Scrapped Pilot
Smallville’s wider ambitions
In an interview marking Smallville’s 25th anniversary, creators Al Gough and Miles Millar discussed whether they had considered turning the series into a broader franchise. Millar praised the Arrowverse, which followed Smallville, while noting that the two shows took different approaches.
Millar said limiting the use of other DC characters helped Smallville continue and let its creators introduce them over time. The show aimed for a more grounded tone than some later superhero series, he said.
Two actors, one character
Alan Ritchson first appeared as Arthur Curry, or Aquaman, in Smallville’s fifth season. That was the series’ last year on The WB before the network merged with UPN to form The CW in 2006.
Gough and Millar later produced an Aquaman pilot starring Justin Hartley. The project was filmed, but The CW did not pick it up as a series.
A merger derailed the pilot
Millar said Hartley proved to be a strong casting choice, but the project faced poor timing. He said UPN figures arrived after the merger and cleared out projects, with Aquaman among the first casualties of the network dispute.
The pilot was still in raw form, Millar said, and the creators did not get a chance to make changes before it was seen. Looking back, he said they should have pursued the spinoff earlier, but they had no warning that a merger was coming.
Key points
- Alan Ritchson played Arthur Curry on Smallville before Justin Hartley led the Aquaman pilot.
- The Aquaman pilot was filmed but never became a series.
- Millar blamed the UPN and The WB merger, and the leadership change that followed.
- The creators said they had no chance to revise the pilot before it was seen.