Alan Ritchson & Justin Hartley’s 10-Part Masterpiece Series Deserves To Be Binged

Published Sep 23, 2026, 10:00 PM EDT

Tom is a Senior Staff Writer at Screen Rant, with expertise covering everything from hilarious sitcoms to jaw-dropping sci-fi epics.

Initially he was an Updates writer, though before long he found his way to the TV and movies team. He now spends his days keeping Screen Rant readers informed about the TV shows of yesteryear, whether it's recommending hidden gems that may have been missed by genre fans or deep diving into ways your favorite shows have (or haven't) stood the test of time.

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The modern age of television may be dominated by superhero shows, but the genre has graced the airwaves for almost as long as there have been airwaves to grace. The current explosion of superhero TV series, shared universes, and cinematic tie-ins didn’t appear overnight, either. Its foundations were laid during the early comic book adaptation boom of the 2000s, when networks began discovering just how effectively superhero stories could be reshaped into serialized small-screen narratives.

However, the superhero TV landscape of the 2000s was a wildly different beast from what exists today. Budgets were smaller, comic-book accuracy was an afterthought, and plenty of ambitious experiments produced results better left forgotten. Still, the era also created several diamonds in the rough that deserve renewed appreciation. Few are more worthy of rediscovery than Smallville, a series that became far more than the teenage Superman drama its original premise might suggest.

Premiering on The WB in 2001 before moving to The CW in 2006, Smallville ran for 10 seasons and 217 episodes before concluding in 2011. Actor Tom Welling steps into the shoes of Clark Kent before he became Superman, gradually expanding from small-town coming-of-age drama into a sprawling DC superhero story. Remarkably, Smallville still works incredibly well in the binge-watching era. Better still, it helped launch the careers of two of modern TV’s biggest stars: Reacher’s Alan Ritchson and Tracker’s Justin Hartley.

Smallville Is A Surprisingly Bingeable Superhero Series Full Of Action

Many modern superhero TV shows favor heavily serialized narratives, slow-burning mysteries, and season-long dramatic arcs. That is hardly a weakness, either. Shows like Daredevil: Born Again and The Boys prove how rewarding comic book adaptations can be when every installment is but one chapter of a larger story. However, there’s also a time when viewers want a series that lets them switch off and get lost in some easy-watch superhero spectacle that still has a coherent plot running beneath it. This is where Smallville comes in.

Smallville has some great serialized narratives, but its early seasons especially lean heavily on standalone threats. Later seasons become more serialized, but the show rarely abandons its episodic structure entirely. Sitting down to an episode of Smallville almost always guarantees a 40–60 minute adventure that’s wrapped up before the credits roll. Clark can battle a new threat in each installment while larger stories involving his Kryptonian heritage, Lex Luthor, or the stories of other DC heroes continue underneath.

That balance makes Smallville incredibly easy to binge. Individual episodes frequently deliver all the powers, fights, villains, romance, and superhero spectacle a fan could ask for without demanding the concentration of a densely serialized drama. At the same time, Clark's gradual progression toward Superman provides enough forward momentum to keep the “next episode” button tempting.

Most importantly, there is a huge amount of it. With 217 episodes spread across 10 seasons, Smallville offers dozens of smaller arcs that can function almost like miniature binge sessions, each being perfect for an evening on the couch. It is comfortable superhero viewing without being disposable, delivering accessible spectacle while maintaining a coherent story that rewards anyone willing to follow Clark's entire journey.

Alan Ritchson & Justin Hartley Both Had Their Career Breakthrough In Smallville

Smallville is not merely an underrated binge-watching experience. It also represents an important early chapter for two of modern television's biggest action stars. Long before Alan Ritchson was playing Jack Reacher in Reacher, he made his acting debut as Arthur Curry, aka Aquaman, in Smallville's season 5 episode "Aqua." He would also later go on to rejoin the DC universe in Titans as Hawk, one half of the incredibly violent duo Hawk and Dove.

Then there’s Tracker’s Justin Hartley, for whom Oliver Queen became a major breakthrough role. Hartley debuted as Green Arrow in Smallville season 6, initially appearing across seven episodes, before eventually becoming a series regular. Oliver consequently grew into one of the show's most important superheroes, helping expand Clark's world beyond Superman mythology and toward the wider DC universe.

Strangely, Ritchson and Hartley's DC histories nearly overlapped even more directly. The success of Ritchson's first Smallville appearance helped inspire development of an Aquaman pilot. Ritchson has said he was initially expected to continue as Arthur, but concerns about entrusting the series to such an inexperienced actor resulted in Aquaman being recast. Hartley ultimately played Arthur Curry in the 2006 pilot, although The CW declined to order a full series.

Hartley then joined Smallville as Green Arrow, meaning the man who replaced Ritchson as Aquaman soon ended up acting alongside him as an entirely different DC superhero. Today, Ritchson leads Reacher while Hartley headlines Tracker, making revisiting Smallville especially fascinating. Neither was its central star, yet the 10-season superhero epic offers an early glimpse at two actors who would eventually become leading men of two major contemporary action shows.