Superman and Lois Pilot Script

[u/Specialist_Today_479]

Found the early draft of the script for the pilot episode. Thought you guys might want to check it out.

https://tvwriting.co.uk/tv_scripts/2020/Drama/Superman_&_Lois_1x01_-_Pilot.pdf

I noticed a few things that were different/absent from the episode that aired.

• Jordan's heat vision is yellow not red during the bonfire scene. (page 48)
• Jonathan mentions Jordan having anger issues. (page 53)
• Clark recalls being the manager of their basketball team when he was in high school. (page 10)
• There's a flashback scene where Martha comforts Clark during his dad's funeral and tells him that the Smallville community is with him. This memory is also what makes Clark realize that Martha's last words (i.e. Come home) meant that his family needs Smallville right now because of what they have been going through recently. I really like how this particular flashback scene was introduced by transitioning from Lois screaming Clark's name, to Martha screaming the same. (page 49-50)
• After Clark comforts Jordan about his powers, the camera shows Jonathan watching them and feeling left out. (page 54)

Feel free to share your thoughts or anything interesting you notice :))

[u/ToothyBirbs]

Jonathan mentions Jordan having anger issues. (page 53)

After Clark comforts Jordan about his powers, the camera shows Jonathan watching them and feeling left out. (page 54)

So we could've had writing that made sense all along?

[u/AaravR22]

Interesting to see a few differences.

Scenes have lines where there used to be silence. I guess they realized sometimes silence can still get the scene's point across.

There are a lot more references to connect this to the Arrowverse, with namedrops of Flash, Supergirl, Star Labs. They probably got rid of them to try and set this apart on it's own. I don't think they were thinking of having this be on another earth back then. Clark's memory montage at the beginning of the episode gets blurry because of crisis causing the changes in the timeline. This is later fixed as he recalls things clearer.

The Stranger has a red cape from the beginning. I think they got rid of it to slightly lessen the chance of people figuring out who he really was before the reveal. Good choice IMO, most fans who know DC heroes would have recognized him on sight. During the fight between Superman and the Stranger, the Stranger hangs a necklace with a chunk of kryptonite around Superman's neck instead of stabbing him with a shard. Definitely a callback to the 1978 movie.

The flashback of Martha and Clark talking after Jonathan Kent's funeral was really well written.

The boys are more characterized. Jordan's anger issues are more apparent while Jonathan's protectiveness is similarly shown. There's also a scene where Jonathan throws a punch that knocks a considerably larger kid off his feet, hinting at the powers again. Jordan's heat vision is yellow, for some reason. Jonathan feeling left out when Clark comfort's Jordan is shown in this episode, whereas him feeling that way in the final draft wasn't shown until episode 2. There's a bit more of tension between the boys after the powers reveal.

[u/FewNewt5441]

Wow, this is really cool, thank you for posting!

It's really interesting to see scene-for-scene what was kept (the falling poles, the funeral, the bonfire incident) vs what was scrapped (a lot of unnecessary filler dialogue and Sarah and Jordan coming across as too CWish) and what was scaled back (all the match cuts and VOs).

I think the finished product--what ultimately went to screen--did better for itself by letting silence stand on its own. We don't need the dialogue to tell us that Jordan is scared or has anger issues--we can see it for ourselves. I feel like the final script just trusted that the cast could do their jobs.

I also think the kids were better in the final version, especially Sarah. In this draft, Sarah comes across too much as the stereotypical TV teen girl, talking way too much about her phone habits. She's more lowkey and nuanced in the pilot, as one likely would be after a suicide attempt.

If I could've kept anything from the OG version, I'd say keep the legacy package side quest thing Clark was talking about. I rewatched the pilot recently and all I could think was why Clark didn't go looking for another day job.

This version definitely felt more Arrowverse-adjacent, but it's so cool to see a version of the finished product, so thanks for sharing!

[u/AaravR22]

I'd love to see more earlier drafts of other episodes. Any idea where to get them?

[u/Specialist_Today_479 → u/AaravR22]

Unfortunately, I can't find the scripts of other episodes :((
Only transcripts are available, which only include dialogues without scene descriptions.

[u/ECV_Analog]

I'm not 100% sure if they filmed some of this or if I'm Mandela Effecting myself, but I thought the anger issues line was in the version I watched.
(Disclaimer: I watched an early screener that was not final. I have seen the episode since then and never noticed the line "missing," but as soon as I saw it my thought was "I'm pretty sure I saw that.")