Superman & Lois star unpacks twist that [SPOILER] is evil: 'He's a villain in the making'
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Tuesday's episode of Superman & Lois, "Bizarros in a Bizarro World."
Those red leather pants were a walking red flag that many viewers missed on Superman & Lois, because Bizarro Jonathan, a.k.a. Jon El (Jordan Elsass), doesn't just have questionable fashion sense — he's been working for the enemy this whole time.
During this week's time-hopping flashback episode, "Bizarros in a Bizarro World," Clark (Tyler Hoechlin) thought that the superpowered version of his son Jonathan on a parallel Earth was helping him find and defeat cult leader Ally Allston (Rya Kihlstedt) before she merged with her other self. But when Bizarro Lois (Elizabeth Tulloch) appeared, she revealed the shocking truth: Jon actually betrayed the Bizarro El family and had been working with Ally since the beginning.
"It was really fun getting to switch things up and play this character," Elsass tells EW. "It was a blast."
Below, Elsass breaks down the twist that Jon El is evil and teases what's next now that he's come face-to-face with regular Jonathan and the rest of the Kents.
Bettina Strauss/The CW Jordan Elsass and Emmanuelle Chriqui on 'Superman & Lois'
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Did you find out that Bizarro Jon was evil before or after you saw his red pants? I feel like we all should have seen that twist coming from a mile away based on those alone.
JORDAN ELSASS: Just based on the whole outfit and the hair, the earrings, and the makeup, everything. I found out as soon as I read [episode] 210, because obviously in 209 there's still no inkling of what's going on. It was tough because I had to ride that line of, when we were shooting the scene at the end of 209, which is also obviously in 210, where I first appear at the farmhouse and Lois and Jordan catch a glimpse of me, I had to play it as if I was still potentially a good guy. And the thing about Jon El, I hope you noticed, I was trying to play it as he has an entirely different demeanor about him than regular Jonathan. He walks with a different posture and has an arrogance about him. It's subtle, but it is there.
I had to tone it down just enough in that first scene where I appear so it wouldn't be too obvious, but I also didn't want to drop it completely because obviously Jon El's not an actor. Right? Jon El knows that he has to play it cool at first, or at least try to play it cool, but he's probably not the best at it. That was one of the most difficult scenes right off the bat, approaching the farmhouse before it's revealed to the audience or to Lois and Jordan that Jon El is a bad guy.
Your costar Alex Garfin recently told EW that you idolize Heath Ledger's performance in The Dark Knight, so was that your inspiration for how you played Bizarro Jon?
Absolutely. Honestly, that's been my favorite part of the whole season. It was just so much fun to get into that headspace. I mean, you really feel powerful. And that's the thing about when you're really into it and you're doing the scene: It can drain the life out of you or it can make you feel like a million bucks. Playing Jon El, because he's confident and dark, much like the Joker, I think that is a big similarity there. Heath played it the whole time that he's very, very confident in any situation and he just does not care.
But the difference is that Jon El at least wants to be very calculated and meticulous and very calm and cool, but internally he's still young and obviously he's still going through it in these high-pressure, high-stress situations. That was the difficult part, playing into the fact that he's still the same age as other Jon. He's still a kid, you know? I had to play into that where it's not super, super dark. He still doesn't fully understand how the world works and people's motives because he's still young and naive. That was an interesting dynamic to play because it's not just full-out bad guy. There's still some innocence in him and there's still some good in him. But he's a villain in the making, definitely.
Bizarro Jon absolutely does a lot of really bad things in this episode after turning on his family and working with Ally Allston. Even though he still has good in him, it's hard to come back from murder. Is he too far gone after what he did to Anderson (Ian Bohen), or is there redemption for him coming up?
That's a good question. I wish I could tell you. Superman believes that everybody deserves a second chance, a chance at redemption. So I'll say that: Everybody deserves a chance. But will he take that chance? That is the question. We'll see. Keep watching.
Bettina Strauss/The CW Jordan Elsass on 'Superman & Lois'
The connections were really clear too between Clark being disappointed in regular Jonathan because of the X-Kryptonite and then Clark being disappointed in Jon El because he betrayed his family to work with Ally.
Yeah, it's really interesting because there is this parallel of how it just so happens that regular Jonathan and regular Clark aren't getting along crazy well right now because of the whole X-K thing. And then in that scene where Clark is talking with Jon El about his father, Clark is like, "Things can still be made right," and is trying to reassure him. Clark obviously sees his own son in Jon El, and even though he sees later in the episode all these horrible things that Jon El's doing, he still wants to give him a chance, especially because it reminds him of his own son and the troubles he's having. He sees how Jon El had big issues with his father, and I think Clark doesn't want it to end up the same way.
What are we going to see from Bizarro Jon now that he's met up with regular Jon at the end of this episode?
You're going to see a lot of anger and a lot of action. I've got to keep it real vague. Honestly, it's going to be a really good episode. 211's fantastic, and the rest of the season has some really good stuff coming up. I will say this: It's definitely not the last of Jon El, that's for certain.
What was it like for you, having to pull double duty and act opposite yourself for all the scenes of Jon El vs. regular Jonathan?
It was funky, especially the scenes where they're together. I was having to go back and forth rapidly. There were even a few days here at the farmhouse, at the outdoor part of the farmhouse, where I was switching back and forth on set. I wasn't even going back to the trailers to switch out of hair and makeup, just being on set and then going straight from Jonathan to Jon El or vice versa. You sort of have to take a minute and ground yourself and be like, "Okay, this is this, but that line I've got to say a little differently because that sounds a little bit more Jon El." They do have a different way of speaking and different mannerisms and a different demeanor all around, so it's definitely tricky, but it was really fun also. It keeps you in it when you're working those super long hours, it's important to stay focused.
I'm sure the different wardrobe also helped you keep the characters separate.
Oh yeah, the pants kept all the blood in my upper body, kept it all circulating. It's sort of like the pants they wear in fighter jets that are really tight. They keep all the blood in their head when they're pulling crazy G-forces. It was sort of like that.
What was your reaction when you saw Jon El's pants and his whole vibe for the first time?
It's not that I wasn't a fan, it's just that when I first saw the outfit, I don't believe I'd actually read the script yet. I was like, "What the hell is this?" I was just baffled. And once I actually read the script, it started to click pretty quickly. And by the end of the episode I was definitely into it. But it took me a little while to get used to that hair and that outfit and everything, like the entire episode — which I think works, you know? Because there is this progression that you get in these flashbacks of Jon El earlier, before he joins up with Ally and everything, so it made sense. It actually lined up well. But it was funky, for sure.
Superman & Lois airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the CW.
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