Superman & Lois has officially found its new Big Bad actor for Season 3.
Chad L. Coleman, who plays the Moclan Klyden in Seth McFarlane's The Orville, was confirmed for an upcoming villain role on the CW Arrowverse show, reported The Direct. The news was announced at DragonCon's "Arrow Guests: Saving Star City" panel by Arrow's David Ramsey, who previously worked alongside Coleman when he played Arrow antagonist Tobias Church. However, Ramsey did not specify the whether his character would be an alien or human threat to Clark Kent and his allies.
RELATED: The Future of Sci-Fi Television Depends on Season 4 of The Orville
One DC villain that it's speculated Coleman will play is gangster Bruno Mannheim, whose Season 3 presence was teased at the end of Superman & Lois' Season 2 finale. In the episode, Ramsey's John Diggle approaches John Henry Irons (i.e. Steel) to help him investigate the criminal activities of Mannheim's Intergang gang, mainly due to the fact that Mannheim killed the Superman & Lois Earth's version of Irons. This would mark the character's second live-action incarnation after Smallville, where he was played by General Hospital's Dominic Zamprogna in the episode "Stiletto." Mannheim also notably appeared in Superman: The Animated Series as a crime boss given advanced Apokoliptan technology to defeat Superman, only to end up in servitude to Darkseid on Apokolips.
In addition to potential future Superman & Lois appearances, Ramsey will star in and direct the pilot episode for the upcoming Arrowverse series Justice U. The show will see Diggle take up a mentor figure role to five metahumans posing as regular university students, though any other story details or connections between Justice U and the wider Arrowverse have yet to be revealed.
RELATED: Supergirl Star Melissa Benoist Wants to Appear on Superman & Lois
Furthermore, Superman & Lois' latest finale confirmed that this Superman lives on a parallel Earth rather than the Earth-Prime world established in Crisis on Infinite Earths, implying that this Diggle is different from his Arrow counterpart. On why such a major Arrowverse change was made, showrunner Todd Helbing explained that, when the series began, "there was a desire to put our own stamp on the Superman mythology and just have it be able to function on its own." Helbing continued, "But the more we got through Season 1 and the end of Season 2, it's just felt more honest to not have it be on the same planet."
On top of Coleman's inclusion, Superman & Lois will be losing a key cast member, as Jordan Elsass recently announced that he will not return for Season 3 as Jonathan Kent. Elsass cited mental health as the primary reason for his departure, with the CW confirming that Jonathan will be recast ahead of the series' return.
Superman & Lois Season 3 will premiere sometime in 2023.
Source: The Direct