‘Superman & Lois’: Chad Coleman Teases the Emotional Trauma to Come

Move over, Kents, there’s a new super-family in town. Spoilers for this week’s episode of Superman & Lois, but in the hour we discovered that Bruno Manheim (Chad Coleman) is not only married to cancer patient Peia (Daya Vaidya), who is also secretly supervillain Onomatopoeia, but his son is Matteo (Spence Moore II), the boy who has started dating Nat Irons (Tayler Buck). And guess what, folks? That’s just the tip of the iceberg.

“This thing is going to turn up so much!” Coleman told Decider. “The heat is going to turn up incredibly… It wore us out. It’s so emotionally intense. What’s to come is just unbelievable. It rips all of us apart. It really does. You’ll see. It’s incredible.”

In the episode, thanks to a series of flashbacks we discover that Peia was working as an enforcer for Manheim’s boss — but his ambitions for Hob’s Bay led the two of them to fall in love, team up, and take him down. In the present, while Onomatopoeia unsuccessfully attacks Superman, Clark (Tyler Hoechlin) discovers that Peia is Manheim’s wife, something Bruno and Clark reveal to her fellow cancer patient, Lois (Elizabeth Tulloch). It’s an emotionally fraught hour that’s only going to get amped up after that Matteo reveal — and the impending arrival of Lex Luthor (Michael Cudlitz) on the scene.

For more on the episode, as well as what’s to come, read on:

Decider: After watching this episode, I have to admit, I think I am Team Manheim… There’s the “every villain is the hero of their own story” cliche, of course, but is he actually doing anything wrong at this point? Other than attacking Superman, obviously.

Chad Coleman: No, not at all. He has an agenda. He’s clear about how he perceived Superman. And, you know, he feels like his cause is just and worthy. And he has a right to do what he’s doing.

Yeah. I mean, the way you play Manheim, it almost feels — calculated is probably the wrong word, but measured, careful, every word is precise. What went into your take on crafting this character?

I was really taken by his backstory. And coming from South Metropolis, like the backwash of Metropolis. No one cared about these people, and to have a toxic waste plant right in your neighborhood… His love for his mother. And, you know, he’s a problem solver. He cares about his community. He wants what’s best for his community. And he loves family. So that was the bedrock of it for me. I don’t really look at it like a villain and I don’t judge the character. I look at the man and the choices that he’s making. And I go from there. I’m blessed with a baritone voice. [Laughs] So if you bring that tool out of the toolbox, it works for this character. And I just was taken by his dignity and his strength and power.

Something I was really struck by in this episode is it almost feels like Hobs Bay would fall apart without Manheim. He built it, but he seems so crucial to it. Could Hobs Bay continue past him?

I think it is his dream for it to be self-sustaining and not to just be all centered on him. He wants to empower other people, for sure. But at the moment, I would say yeah, he’s the linchpin that makes it go right now. But I think he would be excited for others in the community to be empowered.

We also see a contrast in this episode because we see flashbacks to a younger version of Mannheim. He seems a little more innocent, a little more wide-eyed. Talk me through that.

Yeah, that’s fair. He was in love. He’s in love and he’s a dreamer. So that part of him, that’s a dreamer and a visionary. And being in love with this amazing woman, it was an amazing love affair. Then he saw the vision of them tag teaming to create something even greater at home, as opposed to trying to do what like Lex Luthor would do and go to Metropolis. He wanted to do it at home. I love that grassroots sense of him, that” by the bootstraps” and just again, there was a certain level of innocence to him, which was fun to play, considering, you know, as you said, he’s very, very measured now. But his love for Onomatopoeia is incredible. And I just thought it was a beautiful love story.

We get to see the epic span of it in this episode. What was it like working opposite Daya Vaidya? What was it like developing this relationship between Bruno and Peia?

I can honestly say we came to the table with a lot of chemistry. It’s so funny, a very dear friend of mine is really tight with her and her husband. And he had read for Bruno Manheim — he’s very different from me — when I told him I got it, he said, “You and Daya you’re gonna be fire together… You’re gonna have great chemistry.” And you know, when you have two really committed actors who are very passionate about the work it’s Just It’s electric. And we have great chemistry together. It was naturally there because we’re both so committed to what we’re doing. And outside of that, she’s a master craftsman. She breaks it down.

Based on the scene where she decimates Bruno’s rivals, it almost seems like she’s the brutal one. Or at least she’s more brutal than he is. Would you say that’s accurate? Or are they more of a matched pair?

I’d say they’re a matched pair. They both don’t suffer fools. She’s gifted with what she’s gifted with… She’s formidable, for sure. And she pretty much handled all of the hands-on dirty work for us.

There’s obviously a very bittersweet parallel between Bruno and Peia’s story and Lois and Clark’s story… I was curious how much discussion was there about that between the four of you on set working off each other’s performances, or was it more like two trains running?

Two trains running. It’s all there. You know what I mean? It’s all there. The writing is fantastic. And that’s the one thing for an actor when you serve it up for me like that. All you have to do is dive in we had very little conversation. Because it was so well written. It might be little tweaks and nuance. Or say like, when Tyler first came to my place, he would say, “No, I don’t feel like I would just walk into his place,” little things like that. But the major strokes are there. So we just get in there and play.

We also got the revelation in this episode that Matteo is their son. It definitely seems like a loving family when he walks in. But what can we expect as things continue, and how involved is Matteo and what’s what’s going on with Bruno and Peia?

[Laughs] This thing is going to turn up so much! The heat is going to turn up incredibly… It wore us out. It’s so emotionally intense. What’s to come is just unbelievable. It rips all of us apart. It really does. You’ll see. It’s incredible.

Well, I don’t know if you can comment on this, but it definitely seems suspicious as a viewer that Peia ended up with Lois and Matteo ended up with Nat. Is that a coincidence, or is Bruno, Bruno manipulating things behind the scenes?

So I can’t speak on that one. To be continued. Stay tuned.

Similarly, we know that the next episode is “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” which has strong implications from the title.

[Laughs] Yes!

We know Nat is having dinner with Matteo’s parents, who we now know are Bruno and Peia. How awkward are things going to get?

[Laughs] Very. very, very, very. Oh, my goodness. I just can’t wait for you guys, for this reveal to happen. [It’s gonna] knock your socks off, for sure.

Very excited to see that. You mentioned earlier, but we get a Lex Luthor name drop in this episode. We’re going to see a mini Walking Dead reunion with Michael Cudlitz. What can we expect when he shows up on the show?

Well, all I can say is that that guy is one of my favorite actors and one of my favorite people. And he and I are very good friends. We’re in a mutual fan club with each other’s work. And anytime I get a chance to dance with him, that’s awesome.

Even though Tyreese and Abraham weren’t necessarily on screen a whole ton at the same time, the thing people may now know is you see each other all the time at conventions and things. So you stay close.

Exactly. We’re already friends. So we end up catching each other in New York, sometimes, obviously in LA, and then, you know, Vancouver. But we’re always checking in on each other, the whole con circuit, it was kind of slowed a bit because of COVID and stuff. So we probably would have seen each other even more, but when we did, the last time we saw each other at a con — that was at Fandemic in Atlanta.

Based on what we’ve heard Bruno say about Lex so far it seems like Bruno and Lex might not exactly see eye to eye.

[Laughs] That’s for sure. For very, very, very clear reasons. I’d say I don’t know. We’re not there yet. I don’t want to give anything away. But yeah, for a very clear reason. They’re not in the boys club together.

In terms of the emotional journey, what can we expect over these last couple of episodes, this back half of the season for Manheim?

A to Z man. A to Z. They served it up. Good lord, did they serve it up. We push the envelope, bro. We go deep, we go very deep. I was worn out when we were done, for sure.

Very quick before I let you go. I just wanted to ask when are we going to see you back on It’s Always Sunny?

[Laughs] I don’t know yet. Those are very dear friends, as well. I was supposed to do this episode… I couldn’t do it. And they went ahead with it where it was like Z was Danny Glover. I wasn’t able to do it. So I’m looking forward to when they call me again. Because I do enjoy playing that character. They’re insane. They’re so much fun to work with.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Superman & Lois airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on the CW.