It's Official: Allison Mack is staying in SMALLVILLE
Breathe easy, Smallville fans. Allison Mack has signed a sweet deal to keep Chloe Sullivan on The CW.
The negotiations have ended, a new contract has been signed, and everyone's favorite blonde meteor-freak reporter, Chloe Sullivan, is returning to Smallville for Season Eight. Although the specifics of her new deal haven't been disclosed, TV Guide's MICHAEL AUSIELLO reports that Allison Mack likely will feature in every episode next season.
It's been a turbulent time for The CW series and its fans. First Kristin Kreuk announced that her character, Lana Lang, only would appear in a handful of the eighth season's episodes. Then came the shocking news that the show's creators and showrunners, Al Gough & Miles Millar, were departing. This was followed by the not-so-surprising news that Season Seven was the last for Michael Rosenbaum's Lex Luthor.
But Mack's future was clouded by uncertainty. Rumors even swirled that she was out after an agreement with Warner Bros couldn't be reached, and these were further fueled by the absence of her name from the network's Upfront press release last week.
A deal nearly had been reached earlier, but Rosenbaum's official departure announcement seemed to give Mack's reps leverage to seek a more lucrative contract. After all, Smallville wouldn't survive too many more defections.
According to one Smallville source last week, Kreuk's new part-time status only strengthened Mack's bargaining position. "They need Chloe now more than ever--and Allison's people know it."
Apparently Warners knew it, too.
So, the show's regular ensemble is expected to include Mack as Chloe, Tom Welling as Clark Kent, Erica Durance as Lois Lane, Laura Vandervoort as Kara (Zor-El) Kent and Aaron Ashmore as Jimmy Olsen. Due to Lex's exit and the death of father Lionel (John Glover) late in Season Seven, two new villains will be added: Davis "Doomsday" Bloom and a female named Tess.
A committee of producers will take up the reins as showrunners when filming commences this summer on what's been called the final season.
But is it really?
PAUL J GOUGH and JAMES HIBBERD of The Hollywood Reporter attended the CW's upfront presentation in New York on Tuesday night, and have reported that CW Entertainment president Dawn Ostroff made an interesting comment regarding Smallville.
"You would have said several times during its run that the show is just about dead," she remarked. "So I would never count it out."
[Thanks to MICHAEL HINMAN at SyFy Portal, to TV Squad's ISABELLE CARREAU and to STEVE YOUNIS at Superman Homepage.]