Clark Kent was in attendance at this morning's The CW Upfront presentation – rather, the actor who's played Clark for nine years now, Tom Welling. Welling was there to represent both Smallville and Hellcats, a new CW series he's producing.

With the announcement that Season 10 of Smallville would be its last and fans wondering what the final steps in Clark's journey toward fulfilling his destiny as Superman will be, there was plenty to chat with the actor about.


Question: How was the decision reached that Season 10 would be the last? Did you all sit down and discuss it?

Tom Welling: I don't know if it really goes like that. [Laughs] I don't know if it's like at family dinners. I think it's more of it being an edict of being like, "Look guys, this is your last year. Do a good job." But you know, 10's a great number; 11 is a great number. Who knows what's going to happen? I just know that I would love to see a lot of the people we've seen in the past come back. We saw Annette [O'Toole] last year. I'd love to see John [Schneider] again. I definitely want to see Michael Rosenbaum. I've got to see Lex.

Q: We just saw him in the newspaper [in the season finale dream sequence] running for president.

Welling: Exactly. And whatever we're going to do this year with Clark being propelled into being Superman, how do you do that without a Lex Luthor? You know what I mean? That doesn't make sense to me. So I hope to see him.

Q: Now that he's got the gift of the suit, is it a given that he'll be wearing it in episode 1 of season 10?

Welling: I don't know if it's a given. I actually just don't know. I don't know what the storyline is. What we've done in the past is we've been able to tease it, and I think keep it interesting for fans. And I think that they'll be more. We'll see more of the suit this year – I would think we'd have to.

Q: Are you excited, filled with trepidation, or a mixture of both about possibly fully wearing that suit?

Welling: Terrified. Absolutely terrified!

Q: You've got a full season to give Smallville a proper ending. Some shows, they're just told, "You're gone." Is it nice to know, creatively, that you can really aim toward the end?

Welling: Yeah. And, you know, thank you to the studio and the network for allowing us that opportunity. To be completely honest, it would have been a real shame to just sort of find out I didn't have a job in July. And it would be to the fans. I'm glad we can do this for the fans.

Q: Can you tease anything about the story arc for next season? It looks like we got a glimpse of Granny Goodness in the season finale.

Welling: Yeah. I hope so. I hope so! I honestly don't know. I wish I could tease something! The idea of Granny Goodness -- which they had to explain to me, as we were shooting it -- I thought was awesome. And I believe that she has this group of younger girls who work for her. I would imagine they would be around this year.

Q: Many a fan is wondering if you think you'll be coming back to Comic-Con this summer.

Welling: I'm open! You know what, it was great last year. Let's do it! Yeah.

Q: Were you excited to see them play out the Clark/Lois story this past season?

Welling: I think it was fun. I don't know how he's going to get out of it this season. I hope she just doesn't bump her head and forget! I think that would be too easy.

Q: That's something fans are worried about – that her knowing [Clark is the Blur] isn't going to stick.

Welling: I'd like to see Clark walk into the Daily Planet and have Lana talking to Lois. I wonder what would happen there?