Up until SDCC, little was known about the Syfy series Krypton. Announced last year, the showily focus on Kal-El’s/Superman’s home planet before the event that sends who we now know as Clark Kent down to Earth. Instead of an origin story for Superman, Krypton will serve as a prequel to the caped hero.
With a 2018 release date, the tease was just enough to get people talking. The reveal itself doesn’t give more than some point in 2018, which could mean the show itself is in the very early stages and probably won’t air until the later part of the year. If this is the case, it would explain why we ended up with more news at SDCC than we got footage.
The show itself will follow the grandfather of Superman, Seyg-El in his battle for justice for the House of El. The family name has been dragged through the mud and Seyg will do all he can to restore the family name. While the premise of the show is all too flawed it does have a set of merits. How long could they drag out a story and keep interest when we already know how it ends. At face value, if it were just to follow the family of pre-Earth Superman, would fans really watch past a small handful of episodes.
Based on what little we saw in the brief trailer, Krypton seems to have more of a Star Trek feel to it than a superhero show. We could see the series take us in a much-welcomed new direction. While it will have ties to superheroes, that may be the only similarities between it and its CW counterparts. While heroes are the strength of the comic book shows, another cookie cutter show, on another network, with zero chance of a crossover might not last all that long.
Luckily show runners have announced instead of traditional superhero show they’re getting a little bit more creative. They’re said to build the show around two different timelines, present day universe and centuries prior on Krypton. At some point during the show, someone from the present will go back in time to try and stop Kal-El from existing. The biggest reveal from the panel was the name drops. DCs own Geoff Johns announced that Adam Strange and Hawkwoman would appear to try and save the legacy of Superman, while also hinting that Doomsday and Brainiac would finally get their due time.
After announcing the past vs present, it became clear where the show was trying to go. By building a world that bounces back and forth between two timelines, allows them the freedom to develop multiple angles. They no longer have to have an end point that seems to drag on towards a conclusion we already know. Now they can play their cards in how past events affect the present time and how present grudges carry back to the past. Krypton will more than likely feature characters from the comic but create a whole stand alone world for the show. There is little chance we actually see Superman on screen with this prequel, however, there should be plenty of references and stories set up to make comic fans feel welcome. Syfy might have struck gold with their first attempt at the superhero genre.