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Superman might not have to worry about obeying the traffic laws, but the actors who play him still do. Former Smallville star Tom Welling, who portrayed the part of young Clark Kent across all 10 seasons of The CW’s iconic Man of Steel prequel, found himself in a situation which would shame his Kryptonian alter ego this weekend when he got arrested for DUI.
As broken by TMZ, Welling was arrested in an Arby’s parking lot in Yreka, California, just after midnight on Sunday, Jan. 26, once he was found to be driving under the influence — his blood alcohol level was reportedly 0.08% over the limit. Unfortunately for the 47-year-old, the fact of his arrest — along with his leaked mugshot — has ended up going viral online, as old-school Smallville fans have reacted with shock at this unexpected news.
Maybe Welling was actually in method acting mode for his upcoming starring role in a remake of Superman III. James Gunn, care to comment?
Yes, Smallville fans know what’s really going on here. Just like all those episodes of the show where Clark turned into a bad boy, clearly Welling was just under the influence of red kryptonite.
For some, the most disappointing news isn’t that Welling was caught driving while drunk but that he was caught eating at Arby’s.
Somebody had to make this joke…
Welling has yet to publicly comment on the incident, but he has been active on social media since. Later on Sunday, the Cheaper by the Dozen actor took to Instagram to celebrate his wife’s birthday. “Happy Birthday to our Angel who makes our dreams come true and inspires us even more! We love you to the moon and back!” wrote in his post, which came with various pictures of wife Jessica Rose Lee on the Wellings’ ranch property in California.
Welling and Lee tied the knot in 2019 after dating since 2014, with the pair sharing two children together. In recent years, Welling’s acting career has taken a back seat, although he has continued his association with DC. He appeared in a regular role as Marcus Pierce on the third season of Lucifer and even reprised his role as Kal-El for a cameo in The CW’s 2019 Arrowverse crossover event, “Crisis on Infinite Earths.”
Welling is most commonly seen these days in his ongoing TalkVille podcast, which he hosts alongside former co-star Michael Rosenbaum, who played his friend-turned-nemesis Lex Luthor on the beloved series, which ran for 217 episodes from 2001 to 2011. Welling and Rosenbaum have been open about their attempts to get an animated revival of Smallville off the ground. Despit having the support of the show’s original creators and other cast members, the duo have so far been unsuccessful in getting a greenlight.
“The honest answer is we have not been able to get Warner Bros. to give us the thumbs-up. We need their permission,” Welling admitted in a Nov. 2024 interview. “We haven’t even gotten a response!”
Well, the “glass half full” way of looking at this oopsie is that maybe now his name’s in the headlines again, WB might finally give him a call…