And we mean “sounds” literally. We have the names of the main characters, a few side characters and descriptions for all of them — and they’re all going to be a bit of a problem.
Krypton will be a show about Superman’s grandfather and life on Krypton before, you know, the planet exploded. As a result of that, everyone on the show has Kryptonian names. Everyone. And the result is that Krypton had better just embrace that it’s going to be a little campy, because otherwise it’s doomed. (Much how Gotham quickly went from believing it was giving us the origins of real Batman characters to just being… whatever Gotham is now.)
Anyway, it won’t be a surprise to any fan to know that a show about Superman’s grandfather is going to centre around Seg-El who, according to TV Line, is being seen as “athletic, quietly confident and in his 20s”. Also in the lead are Lyta Zod and Val-El. Lyta has a “familial tie” to General Zod and she’s a “(reluctant) warrior”. She’s also in her 20s, so I put all my money on her being a doomed love interest for Seg-El, because then Zod and Superman’s fights take on the level of family feud.
Val-El, on the other hand, is Seg-El’s grandfather and therefore Superman’s great great grandfather. Seg-El’s “genius grandpa defied death by going into the Phantom Zone, and is a staunch believer in space exploration”. Cool old guy, basically.
If you were wondering why grandpa gets a lead role but Seg-El’s father doesn’t well, continue to wonder, because it doesn’t sound like he’s dead. The show is also casting Superman’s great grandfather, Ter-El, and Lyta also gets a mother in the form of Alura Zod — hmmm, interesting that she shares a name with the mother of Kara Zor-El (AKA Supergirl). Again, I’m seeing soap opera-level family dramas.
Also, Kryptonian juvenile delinquent Dev-Em — last seen as a completely unnoteworthy Zod soldier in Man of Steel — is also going to show up. Excellent. Bet he and Seg-El spend some time talking about the Phantom Zone as an in-joke. He’s 100 per cent going to be wearing the Kryptonian version of a leather jacket if TV Line’s description of him as a “chiselled, twentysomething bad boy” is in any way accurate and not a joke.
The show is supposed to start production this winter, so we should be hearing who is going to have to deliver lines about the Phantom Zone and Zods and Els relatively soon. Best of luck to everyone involved.
[TV Line]