page_title: List of Smallville characters
section_title: Dr. Virgil Swann
hierarchical_section_title: List of Smallville characters / Recurring characters / Dr. Virgil Swann
caption_attribution_description: English: Christopher Reeve discusses the potential benefits of stem cell research at a neuroscience conference at MIT. Русский: Кристофер Рив обсуждает возможную пользу исследований стволовых клеток на конференции по нейробиологии в Массачусетсском технологическом институте.
context_page_description: Smallville is an American television series developed by writer/producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, and was initially broadcast by The WB. After its fifth season, the WB and UPN merged to form The CW, which was the second broadcaster for the show in the United States. The series features a regular cast of characters, which began with eight main characters in its first season. Since then, characters from that first season have left the series, with new main characters having been both written in and out of the series. In addition, Smallville features guest stars each week, as well as recurring guests that take part in mini story arcs that span a portion of a season. Occasionally, the recurring guest storylines will span multiple seasons.
  The plot follows a young Clark Kent, in the fictional town of Smallville, Kansas, as he journeys toward becoming Superman. Additionally, the series chronicles Lex Luthor's path to the dark side, and his metamorphosis from Clark's best friend to greatest enemy. Smallville depicts the relationship between Clark and his first love interest, Lana Lang, as well as his relationship with Lois Lane, the woman he ultimately marries in the comic books.
context_section_description: Christopher Reeve appears twice as Virgil Swann, a scientist who was able to translate the Kryptonian language. Swann first meets Clark in the season two episode "Rosetta", where he explains his team of scientists intercepted a message from space and were able to translate it based on a mathematical key which accompanied the transmission. Swann informs Clark his birth name is Kal-El, and that he comes from a planet called Krypton, destroyed just after he was sent to Earth. When Lionel begins piecing together the alien language on the Kawatche cave walls, and Clark's constant presence at the caves, he seeks out Swann for the answers in the season three episode "Legacy". Swann, though he denies knowing how to read the symbols in the caves, agrees to help Lionel when he correctly guesses Lionel is dying; how Swann helps Lionel is not made clear. In season four's "Sacred", it is revealed Swann died, but not before sending Clark the octagonal disk from Clark's ship, which had been missing since season three's "Legacy".
  Gough and Millar always had intentions of bringing Christopher Reeve onto the show. When the pair learned Reeve enjoyed watching Smallville, Gough and Millar decided they were going to bring him on for season two. They had already crafted a character, Dr. Virgil Swann, they knew would reveal the truth about Krypton to Clark, and they decided Reeve would be perfect for the part. According to Gough and Millar, it was "natural" for Reeve to be the one to educate Clark about his past, and help him see his future. As Gough describes it, the scene between Clark and Dr. Swann is a "passing of the torch" moment for the series. Gough and Millar explain the importance of the character: "Dr. Swann provided the first tantalizing answers to the quest plaguing Clark for all of his young life. 'Where am I from?' 'What happened to my parents?' 'Am I truly alone?" The creative team flew to New York to film Reeve's scenes since he used a wheelchair and required additional assistance when travelling. Although James Marshall directed the episode, for Reeve's scenes in New York the Smallville crew sent Greg Beeman as a stand-in director. Gough, Welling and Mat Beck travelled alongside Beeman to New York, where John Wells, who had previously lent his White House office on The West Wing to the Smallville crew for season one's "Hourglass", allowed the team to use the production offices from Third Watch for Reeve's scenes.
  There was initial concern over Reeve's stamina for shooting the scenes, as his particular scene with Welling was six pages long, which translated to approximately twelve hours of work day. Beeman tried to design everything so it was as simple as possible, but Reeve quickly readjusted the scene. Beeman originally had Welling walk into frame and stand in front of Reeve, and then make a single move behind Reeve. Beeman was told, by Reeve, the scene needed more dynamic between the characters, and if Welling only made a single move, the dynamic would be lost. According to Reeve, "Tom moving around me will hide the fact that I'm unable to move." Beeman's fear of overstretching Reeve's stamina, because of the added shots to the scene, were put to rest when Reeve himself stated it did not matter how long it took to finish the scene, as long as it turned out great. Reeve was directing Yankee Irving when Smallville was gearing up to film the fourth season opener. As a result, Reeve could not reprise his role as Dr. Swann, which was the intention.
caption: When filming his scenes, Reeve would give the director suggestions on ways to shoot without showing his wheelchair, so it would not be so obvious to audiences he was paralyzed.
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