‘Budget Cuts’ Stopped Incredible ‘Superman and Lois’ Costume From Being Used On-Screen

Superman & Lois’ final season came at a cost, and not including the dramatic downsize of the cast. It’s no secret that The CW’s last DC series was canceled, likely due to the DCEU, but like with any other network, it also took a major budget cut in order to keep going. Most of the cast, aside from the Kent family and Michael Cudlitz, were demoted to recurring from series regular. A writer was also laid off due to budget cuts, but that isn’t all.

Wolé Parks, known as John Henry Irons on the superhero series, took to Instagram to share a photo of him in a pretty upgraded Steel suit. He said he was always asked when the full Steel suit would be introduced, and he’d “always say that it’s coming. Unfortunately, due to the budget cuts, we never got to do it, but here’s an early fitting as proof.”

It’s unknown what season this fitting was for, but regardless, it is pretty disappointing, especially for comic book fans. Superman & Lois always did seem to have an impressive budget with the cinematography and VFX, even for being on a network like The CW. There are likely many more costumes, comic book-accurate costumes to be exact, that had to be axed because of budget cuts. While it isn’t surprising, that doesn’t make it any less hurtful. At the very least, fans can see the picture of Parks in full Steel gear and think about what could have been.

Meanwhile, S&L’s final season only had 10 episodes to close out the series. The episodes touched on the death of Superman, the secret finally getting out, and even a heartwrenching and heartbreaking flashforward montage at the very end of the finale, among many other storylines. Even despite a chunk of the cast getting cut, many of them still appeared pretty frequently; they just weren’t series regulars anymore, and it wasn’t too bad.

It would be interesting to know what other costumes were cut because of the budget, but fans will just have to continue to wonder, especially now that Superman & Lois is officially done. At the very least, the imaginations will continue with the first three seasons streaming on Max and the fourth and final season streaming on The CW app for free. It’s likely Season 4 will be coming to Max at a later date, but people will have to be patient.