‘Superman & Lois’: Alex Garfin Gives Update on Jordan’s Super Future & ‘Journey’ to Help Lois

[Warning: The below contains spoilers for Superman & Lois Season 3, Episode 5,  “Head On.” So if you don’t want to be spoiled, go see if you can find out what Bruno Mannheim is hiding in his medical lab.]

Things remained as emotional as ever in Smallville this week and once again, the ensemble proved to be as adept at touching our hearts as they are at saving the day. With Lois (Elizabeth Tulloch) beginning chemo at Bruno Mannheim’s wellness facility, Clark (Tyler Hoechlin) was given an all-too-poignant reminder that he is powerless over his wife’s condition, despite having all the superpowers in the world.

At the same time, their kids were learning how to navigate the often unruly matters of the heart in their own ways. Jonathan (fantastic recast Michael Bishop) was forced to decide between a long-distance romance with Candice (Samantha Di Francesco) and a chance to join the Smallville Fire Department, while super-powered twin Jordan (Alexander Garfin) continued to deal with the fact that he and Sarah (Inde Navarrette) just aren’t meant to be. And on Valentine’s Day, no less!

Thankfully, Garfin is doing much better than his TV alter ego, as you can tell from his upbeat approach to tackling some heavy material and taking on some super responsibilities so his parents can focus on getting Lois healthy. Here, Garfin fills us in on what lies ahead.

Colin Bentley/The CW

First off, how are you getting along with your new brother?

Alex Garfin: We’re getting along great! I’m not gonna speak for him completely here, but I believe he’s doing his own version of Jonathan. You know, he’s taking up the role as if he was just the original cast member and I think he’s doing a great job. A big part of his first couple weeks there, really, the first couple days even— because there were only four days between him getting officially cast and starting—was that I really wanted to build as much chemistry as possible. So we spent a lot of time together, which was great. And  I really wanted to welcome him to [the show], so his first day on set, I introduced him to every single department. Which is something I do twice a year, I visit once at the beginning, once at the end. And I’m not just talking about props and costumes, I’m talking about accounting, safety, all of that. I really wanted him to feel like he’s been up there for three years because we’ve built such a close-knit community and I’m that kind of person that loves to really get to know everybody. I wanted to share that with him cause it’s one of the joys of my job.

Nice. Now, the season started with Jordan’s super-training in high gear, but it’s kind of a little bit on hold right now with what’s going on with Lois. How has that been for you, getting to play more of the family drama stuff?

You know, it’s been interesting. Obviously, it’s a bit of a turn to have Lois sick because, from Jordan’s point of view, she’s always been the one there for him. She’s always been this crazy, unbelievably strong force of a person in his life, more so than his father, right? His father was quite absent for the first 14 years so seeing her sick, it does have a profound impact on both of the sons.

But his new powers and the identity that he’s gained from learning about his heritage, I think is a big source of strength. We oftentimes give whatever we have gotten in our life and now that he’s been given a lot of strength, now that he’s received a lot of strength, he’s able to give that as well.  We see that happen coming up in, I wanna say in like Episode 8. We have a little bit of a journey.

Great. Now, I need to talk about the scene at the end of Episode 2, where you and Michael both got up at the same time and circled Lois after she told you guys about her cancer. I was devastated by that scene…and now, this episode once again gives us stuff that’s just breaking my heart.

Right. And you know, there’s a big theme of loss this year. Last year we had a lot of themes of identity and “how do you find yourself?” amid all that crazy very sci-fi stuff, right? And the year before that, there was a lot about “What is home? What is heritage?” And this year it’s a lot about loss. We see every character kind of go through it. In this episode, we see it in kind of a microcosm with George Deans, Jr. Junior lost his father [the former Mayor] to a murder. Everyone seems to be dealing with some sort of loss this year. And how they find strength in each other and what they still have is kind of beautiful.

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There was also a scene tonight where there’s just the hint of loss for Jordan when he looks over at Sarah (Inde Navarrette) at the dance. I feel like that door needs to be shut now.

I know, but you know, he’s not the type of person to kind of let things go. [Laughs] And we’ve seen that throughout time, you know, to a fault. There were times when he didn’t treat his parents that well because he couldn’t just let something go. And Sarah was the big source of strength. I mean, she was really the first person that ever really understood him and now that’s gone and he’s worried he’ll never feel understood again. While it’s coming out like he wants this romantic thing, I think he just really craves that connection. So when she kind of withdraws for whatever reason, he’s not really backing down, which I think we’ve all done in our lives. We all had that kind of lingering heartbreak. I know. I’ve had it!

That does lead to growth though.

We will see [Jordan] really start to own up to his powers this season. We will we see him begin to behave proactively, which is completely different than his reactively using powers. You know, originally it was instinctive. He shot the lasers into the fire in the pilot and he’s protected his brother with the super strength. It was almost like that Avatar: The Last Airbender kind of thing. And then we’d see him starting to be more reactive, like when his father’s gone in Episode 209. And you know, he’s saved Kyle this year and we start to see him be more and more proactive.

One of the best experiences I’ve had on this show was reading Episode 303. I’m sure you’ve noticed that every episode seems to start with Superman doing some big save where we show off how awesome our special-effects and our camera teams are, rightt? Cause we just wanna flex on ’em and show really just how talented our people are. And I’ve read so many of these scripts over and over and remember I was reading through that one for the first time, like, “Oh and Superman’s gonna come… like, OK and then we see a big burst of wind…then we see two figures.” And I’m like, “Oh, John Henry’s there too. Cool.” And then it says, “Jordan and Clark land.” And I was like Yes!! Oh my gosh. This is my…I get my own cold open?! Are you kidding me?!” [Laughs]

He’s come a long way from Season 1.

And it was in that moment I realized this is a different person than I started with. That really felt awesome, because that’s what I always wanted to do. I’ve said this a bunch, but if you asked me way before my dreams ever came true what I wanted to do in the acting world, first of all, I would’ve said you’re crazy. I never thought I’d be working and getting a paycheck for all this, you know? All this fun stuff?

But I didn’t wanna be Leo DiCaprio as much as I wanted to be Bryan Cranston. I wanted to slowly develop character over all this time, over years. Because for me, I watched [TV] shows as I developed and grew and over eight seasons or so, that’s absolutely an incredible span of your life that you get to spend with these characters. You change, the actors change, the characters change. But I wanted to do that, to become a different person and all of a sudden, I’m seeing that [in Jordan]. It was such a gratifying moment.

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I’m guessing that there’s even more growth coming in the rest of the season.

Yeah. Yeah. So as I was saying before, he begins to become more proactive. He begins to really dive into the fact that he can start to right the wrongs he’s seeing in the world. And the misguidedness of all of that, we start to dive into too, a little later in the season. You know, one of the things about Jordan that makes him very unique is that unlike everyone else in these superhero worlds, he’s someone that one has powers and has been harmed by the secret of powers. Superman has his secret to keep himself grounded and to keep himself happy. You know, Jordan’s been harmed by that secret and now people in his life are being harmed by that secret.

Jordan has trained with his father and the way the episode ends, it seems he might actually have to go up against a version of his father. How is that going to play out?

You know, I think a lot of times he has to disassociate the enemy from the personal nature of it. You know, he was the enemy at one point. Right. That’s the other thing I can’t forget, Zeta-Rho really impacted who he was [when he possessed Jordan] because he was no longer in control. We saw him go all the way down to that weak place where he was just sitting in his bedroom crying again and Zeta put him there. So I think there’s a certain wall that he does have, he has built some defenses to the personal nature of some of this stuff.

This could be the ultimate test of his powers: Does the student become as good as the teacher?

It’s true. And can the student exceed the teacher?! [Laughs]

You sound like you are still having so much fun.

I’m having fun. If you ever see me on that set, you’d know…everyone knows me as the happiest guy they’ve ever met. I can’t not be happy. I’m living out my dream. I’m doing what I love. I’m getting paid for it. And I get to do it in such a great environment full of such great people. Gratitude is happiness!

Superman & Lois, Tuesdays, 8/7c, The CW