‘Smallville’ Alum Eric Johnson Is the New Flash Gordon
The Sci Fi Channel Prepares TV’s Next Comic Book-Inspired Series
Am I imagining things, or has Smallville—one of my personal top five shows—really played host to some of the most amazing talent on TV today? Aside from the since-day-one regular cast featuring Tom Welling as Clark Kent, Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor, Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang, and Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan, there’s Season 4 addition Erica Durance as Lois Lane, former Passions soap star Justin Hartley as the recently departed Green Arrow/Oliver Queen, CSI: NY‘s Emmanuelle Vaugier as Dr. Helen Bryce in Season 2, Lost‘s Ian Somerhalder as Adam Knight in Season 4, James Marsters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Spike infamy as Brainiac/Professor Milton Fine just last season, and, of course, Supernatural‘s Jensen Ackles as Lana’s shady boyfriend Jason Teague in the fourth season.
With a roster that superb—and my list is far from complete—it comes as no surprise that original cast member Eric Johnson, who played Lana’s high school sweetheart and Clark’s erstwhile rival Whitney Fordman in the first season of Smallville, has graduated from one comic book-based action-adventure drama to another after being cast in the title role of the Sci Fi Channel’s forthcoming original series Flash Gordon.
According to the April 11 press release, the new series will put “a 21st century spin on a science fiction classic” in order to present a “contemporized version of Flash Gordon [and] the all-new adventures of Flash (Johnson) and his companions, Dale Arden and Dr. Hans Zarkov … [o]rdinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances [who] find themselves as Earth’s last line of defense against the forces of the merciless dictator Ming.”
I can’t wait to learn who gets the villainous role of Ming, played to perfection by the illustrious Max von Sydow in the hammily entertaining 1980 flick also titled Flash Gordon. If only the Swedish legend could reprise his turn here… At this early stage, however, it seems only Johnson has been cast.
Production on the first two episodes of the series written by Charmed vet Peter Hume and directed by Smallville vet Rick Rosenthal will begin May 1 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for a projected August premiere. The Sci Fi Channel has issued an initial order for 22 one-hour episodes, instead of basic cable’s customary 10 to 13, clearly signaling a strong commitment.
Provided that the show is half as good as the magnificent, underrated Smallville, Flash Gordon should have a lengthy and prosperous basic-cable life. Following the overwhelmingly dreadful—and I do mean dreadful—reviews for Friday’s debut Painkiller Jane, the network’s most recent comic-book series starring Terminator 3 Terminatrix Kristanna Loken in the title role, Sci Fi will almost certainly need a winner on its hands to help counteract any fallout. Maybe Flash Gordon will serve that purpose.
Eric Johnson photo courtesy of the CW
