Guess who's coming back to Smallville?

     The CW's Smallville is having an exciting year, especially where guest stars are concerned.  With a new two hour TV movie coming up in a couple of weeks, featuring a whole bunch of other heroes, the show is brimming with talent.  However, some news broke a few days ago that is even bigger for the show.  Two Superman heavyweights are returning.  No, no, sorry.  Michael Rosenbaum's Lex Luthor is not coming back...yet, anyway.  It seems that actor is reluctant to go bald again.  But hey, Gene Hackman played Lex with hair, so why not Rosenbaum?  Anyway, I think you will be pleased with who is returning.

     Annette O'Toole (Nash Bridges) played mother Martha Kent for 132 episodes of the series, leaving almost two years ago.  (Fun fact: Annette O'Toole also played Superman love interest Lana Lang in the movie Superman III.)  The last of the adults to leave the cast, Martha went to take her deceased husband's job as a Senator in Washington D.C.  Though fans had been promised an occasional return of Ma Kent, she has been absent from the show since May 2007.  However, I am please to report that she is returning to the town of Smallville this May in the season's penultimate episode.

     Shortly after O'Toole's return was announced, so was the comeback in the same episode of her real life husband, Christopher Guest movie staple, Michael McKean (Clue, Best in Show, This Is Spinal Tap).  McKean was previously on Smallville back in a  2003 titled "Perry", when he played the legendary editor of the Metropolis newspaper The Daily Planet, Perry White.  White has been portrayed by many actors in many versions of Superman, including Jackie Cooper in four movies, Lane Smith in the television show Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, and most recently Frank Langella (Frost / Nixon) in the 2006 film Superman Returns.  McKean's take was memorable, however, as his Perry White has a drunkard, washed up, unemployed loser.  Clark met him and set him on the proper path, and viewers of the show have long awaited his triumphant remergence.  It is not clear if McKean will become recurring, as both Clark (Tom Welling) and Lois (Erica Durance) currently work at The Daily Planet on the show.  There have been several editors of the newspaper on Smallville, including Princess Leia herself, Carrie Fisher (Star Wars).  Could Perry White have finally arrived once and for all?  And is he romantically linked to Martha Kent?  Considering how important a role White plays in the Superman legacy, his return to the show is big news.

     While O'Toole and McKean won't arrive until May, you can watch Smallville every Friday night on The CW, as it returns from its winter hiatus this coming Friday.