 Terence Stamp's name was deliberately kept out of the opening credits in order to keep the secret he was voicing Jor-El. Stamp originally portrayed General Zod in the first two Superman films, starring Christopher Reeve. Gough and Millar wanted to provide answers for certain aspects of the Superman mythology, so at the start of season three they tied Jonathan's heart condition to Jor-El, where Jonathan makes a deal with Jor-El to be given the power to bring Clark back. This power ultimately puts a strain on Jonathan's heart. The refusal by the film department to allow Smallville to cast a body as a physical representation of Jor-El forced the special effects crew to come up with a creative way to display some sort of aid to help the audience visualize this disembodied voice which was supposed to be talking to Jonathan in season three's "Exile". They decided to create a force field around whoever was speaking to Jor-El, which acted as Jor-El's voice, rippling as he spoke. To save money on this effect, the crew filmed John Schneider on a black backdrop, and Entity FX digitally added the force field around him. Wind machines and a spot light were added to help synthesize the atmosphere in the force field. At the time of season three's "Memoria", where a scene depicting Jor-El and Lara placing baby Kal-El into his ship before the destruction of Krypton was scripted, Warner Bros. was working on a new Superman film, and it was going to be an origin story, and as a result was still banning Smallville from showing Jor-El. Millar was forced to take inspiration from comic book scribe Jeph Loeb. In one of Loeb's book, Jor-El and Lara are depicted as just a pair of hands holding on to each other after they place Kal-El into his spaceship. In season nine, the producers were able to provide the character with a physical appearance, and Julian Sands was cast for the role.
