Gough und Millar verlassen SMALLVILLE

Kurz nach­dem öffent­lich ge­macht wurde, dass SMALL­VILLE, die Se­rie um den ju­gend­li­chen SU­PER­MAN ohne Cape, in eine achte Staf­fel ge­hen soll, ha­ben die Haupt­ver­ant­wort­li­chen Al­fred Gough und Mi­les Mil­lar er­staun­li­cher­weise und völ­lig un­er­war­tet das Fran­chise ver­las­sen.
In ei­nem of­fe­nen Brief an ihre Freunde und An­hän­ger der Se­rie er­klä­ren sie (nicht wirk­lich) wa­rum, wil­des­ten Spe­ku­la­tio­nen über “krea­tive Dif­fe­ren­zen” etc. sind na­tür­lich Tür und Tor ge­öff­net:

As the crea­tors of »Small­ville« we look back at 7 ama­zing years. We look back at 152 epi­so­des. We look back kno­wing that the show will con­ti­nue into Se­a­son 8 wi­t­hout us. Af­ter much he­ar­t­a­che and de­bate we have de­ci­ded it is time for us to move on.

Over the last 7 years we have had the ho­nor of working with a re­mar­ka­ble team of people here in Los An­ge­les and in Van­cou­ver. We have been bles­sed with a won­der­ful cast who we have wat­ched ma­ture with ad­mi­ra­tion and af­fec­tion. We have been re­war­ded with a fan base that is as loyal as it is vo­cal.

We are in­credi­bly proud of our work on this show. We achie­ved what we set out to do. We ne­ver com­pro­mi­sed our vi­sion. We leave kno­wing that »Small­ville« is the longest-running co­mic book ba­sed se­ries of all-time. The show was fea­tured on the co­vers of Rol­ling Stone, MAD ma­ga­zine, TV Guide and En­ter­tain­ment Weekly. The pi­lot had the highest-rated pre­miere in the history of the WB. Even in its seventh year it is still the #1 scrip­ted show on the net­work. »Small­ville« is wat­ched by mil­li­ons of people in hund­reds of coun­tries and in do­zens of lan­gua­ges around the world.

The show’s suc­cess is a credit to a fan­tas­ti­cally ta­len­ted group of people. We wan­ted to take this chance to sin­gle some of them out. Our wri­ters – your work speaks for its­elf. Ja­mes, Jae, Rob, Da­vid – the back­bone of our team in Van­cou­ver. Joe Da­vola, Chris and Shelly – re­mem­ber those Fri­day night brain­stor­ming ses­si­ons? Len Gold­stein and Steve Pearl­man – thanks for be­lie­ving we could do this. Da­vid Nut­ter – for gi­ving the show your ma­gic touch. John Lit­vack – when the kni­ves were out, you al­ways had our backs. Ken Hor­ton – our Yoda. Pe­ter Roth – Smallville’s big­gest fan. Me­linda, Mi­chael R., Paul M., Su­san and Su­zanne – for stee­ring us through 152 epi­so­des. Greg Bee­man – your pas­sion is an in­spi­ra­tion. Jor­dan, Da­vid, Garth, Ca­ro­lyn, Bob & Lew – and ever­yone at the much-missed WB. Paul Le­vitz, Greg No­veck and the guys at DC Co­mics. Lisa Le­wis – our very own soc­cer mom/mafia ac­coun­tant. Mi­chael Gend­ler – aka mega-counsel. Da­vid Lub­li­ner – we can fi­nally fo­cus on fea­tures now. And last but in no way the least, Renee Kurtz – the smar­test TV agent in town, we would be nowhere wi­t­hout you!

Fi­nally, to the fans who have stuck with us through the highs and the lows: know this – we ne­ver stop­ped fight­ing to make this show great. Thanks for watching.

Al­fred Gough & Mi­les Mil­lar

Bild: Mi­les Mil­lar, aus der Wi­ki­pe­dia