The CW has released 12 images from “Escape,” the April 2 return episode of Smallville.

Check them out at KryptonSite!

Courtesy of The CW, here’s a new trailer for the return of Smallville on April 2:

Over on KryptonSite we have now posted the titles and writer/director credits for the final three episodes of Smallville’s ninth season.

Find them on the KryptonSite Spoilers Page!

(Apologies for all of the Smallville postings – apparently it’s a big news day!)

More good Smallville news to go with the Season 10 renewal news of earlier today…

KryptonSite has learned exclusively that Greg Beeman, the man responsible for developing the “look” of Smallville as well as directing many of the series’ best episodes, will be returning to direct the show’s ninth season finale.

Beeman departed Smallville after Season 5 and later worked on the Aquaman pilot before spending three years as one of the main directors of Heroes. Most recently he worked on Melrose Place.

A tenth season of Smallville is happening on The CW.

Here’s the network press release:

The CW Network has announced that its hit series “Smallville” will return in the fall of 2010 for a momentous tenth season.

“Smallville,” a modern retelling of the Superman legend, stars Tom Welling as Clark Kent. The series moved to Friday nights this season, where it currently ranks as network television’s #1 show in its time period among men 18-34 and men 18-49. Additionally, “Smallville” has dramatically improved The CW’s ratings performance in its Friday 8:00-9:00p.m.time period by 67% among adults 18-34 (1.5/6), 200% in men 18-34 (1.8/7), 75% in adults 18-49 (1.4/5), 183% in men 18-49 (1.7/6) and 74% in total viewers (3.12million).

“Smallville” joins the five previously announced series – “The Vampire Diaries,” “Gossip Girl,” “90210,” “Supernatural” and “America’s Next Top Model” – which will all return for another season on The CW.

“Smallville” was developed for television by Alfred Gough & Miles Millar (“Shanghai Noon,” “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor”), based on the DC Comics characters. Kelly Souders & Brian Peterson serve as executive producers, along with James Marshall, Mike Tollin, Brian Robbins and Joe Davola. The series is produced by Tollin/Robbins Productions, Millar/Gough Ink and Warner Bros. Television. SUPERMAN was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

The CW tonight aired a new promo showing what to expect from Smallville once it returns on April 2. Thanks to SycloneFX, here is that promo.

Be warned of major spoilers for the February 26 episode, “Conspiracy,” within.

A new episode of The CW’s Smallville airs tonight at 8PM. The episode is called “Conspiracy.”

Here are some extras associated with the episode that you may enjoy:

Message Forum

Countdown/LIVE Forum Thread

Promo Caps

Preview Clip Caps

Official CW Description

Spoilers

As always you can read more about Smallville at KryptonSite. Enjoy!

There’s been a lot of talk lately around the Internet about Smallville.

First there was the announcement that The CW has renewed several series for another season, and Smallville is not one of them (yet). Then EW’s Michael Ausiello said that budgetary issues are being worked out, but things look likely, and the latest from The Superman Homepage says the producers are “attempting to close a deal with Michael Rosenbaum to return as Lex Luthor, wanting to sign him up for at least 9 or 10 episodes.” That last bit brought some excitement to many fans at a time when a lot of them were down that the show could be over soon.

Unfortunately, getting Michael back is not a done deal. It could be wishful thinking on the part of TV execs, but most importantly it’s a good kind of wishful thinking. In short: getting Michael back for the show’s final season might be the shot in the arm that Smallville needs.

To me, Smallville has been the story of Clark Kent and Lex Luthor. Clark’s ascent to heroism; Lex’s descent into villainy. When Michael Rosenbaum left the show, that left a void in a big bad villain department. Yes, Doomsday looked cool but he was a one-season villain. Callum Blue’s Zod went from interesting in the season premiere to boring at a pretty fast rate. What would be next? Darkseid? Really? I don’t know how that would work on TV, and I’m not convinced it would get the right amount of viewers to return.

(This is not to discount Cassidy Freeman’s performance as Tess Mercer. I really like Tess a lot, but especially with recent revelations, she’s a character who might not be purely a villain. I love that about her, wouldn’t want that to change, and am glad to have her on the show.)

I admit there were times in Michael’s more recent seasons where Lex had very little to do but have Clark come into his mansion and spout accusations, and then move on. But if used sparingly and well (as in not every episode), Lex could again be a threat and a center to the series that I think the show lacks.

I’m sure budget for Season 10 is definitely an issue, but I think returning Michael would be worth every penny. The associated press with the show’s big villain returning alone would be quite beneficial, and as much as I love the DC Universe characters appearing on the show, Lex Luthor is a lot more of a draw than the random DC guest character of the week. The fan base for the show – several of whom may have given up on the show by now – would get a jolt of energy and excitement to tune into the show again. And who wouldn’t want to see Lex sparring with Tess, or telling Clark that he rocked the Neo look better?

I just hope that if negotiations to bring back Michael take place, that the executives of the CW and with the studio, who are responsible for these decisions, know what an asset Michael Rosenbaum can be. Give him whatever he wants; creative input, a producer title, his own development deal; you name it. It worked with getting Tom back for more. Make it worth his time, let Lex wear hairpieces for all I care… just make it happen. (Heck, maybe Lex grew his hair back when recovering from the Arctic. Stranger things have happened…)

Who knows if Michael would even want to return. He does have other projects he’s working on. Maybe it’s something that has been tried and failed, but it wouldn’t hurt to try and make it worth his while.

Smallville started with Clark Kent and Lex Luthor and it should end with Clark Kent and Lex Luthor. If it doesn’t, I know that I am one viewer who will leave the show’s finale disappointed. So, especially if you’re one of those network or studio people… think about it. A rejuvenated Smallville with a returned Lex coupled with the already-renewed Supernatural Season 6 = successful Friday nights for the network, and a whole lot of DVD sales later on.

The CW has released several images from “Conspiracy,” the Feb. 26 episode of Smallville.

You can find the entire gallery at KryptonSite.

IGN has revealed that Gil Bellows of Ally McBeal fame will be appearing in the Smallville episode “Charade.”

Bellows will be playing DC Comics character Maxwell Lord, whose coming to the show was revealed on KryptonSite on Feb. 12.

The IGN article reveals the role could be recurring, which is a good sign that there may be a tenth season of the show, since there are only three episodes beyond “Charade” for him to possibly recur.