Why Smallville alum Michael Rosenbaum won't play Lex Luthor for 'Crisis on Infinite Earths'

After news broke that the upcoming Arrowverse crossover “Crisis on Infinite Earths” will play host to a Smallville reunion, featuring both Tom Welling and Erica Durance reprising their roles as Clark Kent and Lois Lane, fans immediately got their hopes up that Michael Rosenbaum would be the next major announcement. But the Smallville alum revealed Tuesday morning on Twitter that he won’t be playing Lex Luthor in the five-part TV event. However, it wasn’t for lack of trying on The CW and Warner Bros. TV side of things!

“Friends, many of you have tweeted and asked me about joining the Infinite Crossover,” Rosenbaum writes. “I can’t tell you how much this means to me. I’ll just be straight up about this. WB called my agents Friday afternoon when I was in Florida visiting my grandfather in a nursing home. Their offer: No Script. No idea what I’m doing. No idea when I’m shooting. Basically no money. And the real kick in the ass ‘We have to know now.’ My simple answer was ‘Pass.’ I think you can understand why.��

Representatives for WB Television had no comment.

For those who didn’t watch Smallville, The CW’s longest-running superhero series (so far), Rosenbaum was part of the 2001 Superman prequel’s original cast, debuting a new version of the iconic bald villain before he broke bad. In fact, Smallville introduced an all-new origin story for the fated nemesis in which he was actually friends with Clark when the latter was still in high school. They met when Lex accidentally hit Clark with his car, but Clark’s secrets eventually drove Lex to the dark side. After leaving Smallville (and returning for the series finale), Rosenbaum starred on Breaking In and Impastor.

While Rosenbaum’s Lex won’t appear in the crossover, another version of the supervillain will. Jon Cryer will reprise his Supergirl version of Lex in “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” Other versions of Superman appearing in the crossover are Tyler Hoechlin and Legends of Tomorrow’s Brandon Routh, and Elizabeth Tulloch will reprise her Arrowverse version of Lois as well. Also appearing in the mega “Crisis” crossover are Black Lightning’s Cress Williams, Batman: The Animated Series’ Kevin Conroy as a Bruce Wayne from the future, LaMonica Garrett as both the Monitor and Anti-Monitor, Batman’s Burt Ward, and John Wesley Shipp returning to the Arrowverse once more.

The “Crisis on Infinite Earths” Arrowverse crossover begins with Supergirl on Sunday, Dec. 8, followed by Batwoman on Monday, Dec. 9, and The Flash on Tuesday, Dec. 10. The crossover then resumes with part two after the holiday break with Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow on Tuesday, Jan. 14.

Related content:

• Everything we know about the Arrowverse’s ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ crossover so far
• Tom Welling to reprise Smallville role for Arrowverse’s ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ crossover
• Erica Durance to reprise Smallville role in Arrowverse’s ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’