“Superman & Lois” stars and showrunner explain that emotional Lex Luthor moment in series finale

"I'm not aware of any moments in the other iterations of Superman where something like that has happened," Tyler Hoechlin says.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Superman & Lois series finale, "It Went By So Fast."

Superman & Lois left nothing unresolved by the end of its powerful series finale, but it did raise one question that could be forever debated.

The poignant hour spanned more than 33 years with a sweeping epilogue that told the complete story of the rest of Clark (Tyler Hoechlin) and Lois' (Elizabeth Tulloch) lives together after saving Smallville from Doomsday, all the way until both of their eventual (and natural) deaths — and even beyond that. After Clark, who had become totally human in his old age, died, he passed into a version of an afterlife where he found peace with all his loved ones. But there was one shocking moment after Clark's death that seemed to be left open for interpretation when Clark forgave a crying Lex Luthor (Michael Cudlitz).

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Did that emotional moment actually happen between the two enemies after their deaths? Or was it simply a symbolic gesture to represent that Clark didn't hate Lex in his heart after all he had done to the Kents and the rest of the world? Showrunners Brent Fletcher and Todd Helbing tell Entertainment Weekly that they love how fans can and will interpret that scene in both ways; however, they intended it to be more literal than symbolic.

"Superman had a life full of hope, joy, and family. Luthor had made the wrong choices, and it was a life full of hate and retribution," Fletcher says. "When it was over, I think Lex realized that he had made the wrong choices. He had hurt people. If he had walked out that door with his daughter [played by Elizabeth Henstridge] in episode 5, I think he would've lived a much happier, fruitful life, and so it was regret and it was feeling bad that he had inflicted that pain on Superman, and Clark forgiving him."

The showrunners explain that "forgiveness with Superman is always a big thing" for them and this series, so that cathartic moment was important for them to include in the series finale ending montage.

"That was a way to frame that you can do these things in life, but when the time comes — and this isn't a religious thing, it's just from a human soul perspective — there's going to be some regret if you hurt others," Fletcher adds.

Series stars Hoechlin and Tulloch both praise their costar Cudlitz for how he performed Lex's final moment. "That was probably my favorite part of the ending, to be honest," Tulloch tells EW. "And I knew it was going to be very emotional. Michael Cudlitz is just a tremendous actor."

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"I'm not sure what the final version is going to look like, because we did a couple different versions of it," Hoechlin says. "But whether you come from a religious background or not, the idea of holding onto things and not forgiving somebody at the end does, I think, affect you in a negative way, much more than it does them. Usually because it is someone that you're not confronting, and so you kind of just harbor this anger and this resentment, and it's really just not a healthy thing to do."

Hoechlin has always loved how Superman is "this shining example of what a lot of us wish we could do, to be that best version of ourself and something that we strive to be," which was beautifully portrayed in that Lex scene in the Kent's kitchen. "That was a big moment, because I'm not aware of any moments in the other iterations of Superman where something like that has happened, at least in the way that we've done it here," he adds. "To see him have that grace in that moment with someone who's inflicted so much hardship on him and others, I think that was really a beautiful thing that the writers included that."

Tulloch agrees that the Lex moment was "absolutely touching" because it aligned with the message they've been delivering throughout the entire series.

"At the end of the day, our Superman, the way that we've told the story, is a character who embodies hope and that entails forgiveness," she says. "I hope the fans love it, because I know they haven't seen anything like that. This really is a family drama that has superhero elements, and in families, you fight and you forgive each other, and I know that Lex Luthor wasn't family per se, but it speaks to the way that Todd and Brent have written our Superman and our Clark, which is pretty faithful to the comics as really embodying hope."

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Tulloch also calls out the life-defining moment this season when Lex could have given up his revenge crusade against Lois and Clark to reconnect with his estranged daughter, but instead chose the path of evil.

"I do feel like there were moments in the episode with his daughter Elizabeth — who was played by Elizabeth Henstridge, who also is a director on our show — where there's glimpses of Lex's humanity," Tulloch says. "So I love how that moment is like, 'Has Lex already passed on and Clark's then making the decision to forgive him?' Or is it actually a dream sequence, so is it more Clark forgiving him in his heart as opposed to actually having sat down with him and forgiven him?' It's whatever you want to believe."

When Cudlitz learned how Lex's final scene would unfold, he was reminded of his time starring on his 2009 crime drama Southland.

"When we shot Southland, [executive producer] John Wells said, 'We're going to be telling stories in a different way. They're not going to be necessarily a linear narrative — you can compare it more to a composition of music,'" Cudlitz tells EW. "'You're going to see a bunch of scenes that are going to make you feel a certain way, and when you see all these scenes strung together, you'll have a cathartic experience in the end.' And that's the way I look at the end of this show."

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Cudlitz believes that Superman & Lois' finale montage was also not a linear narrative. "It ends in a feeling," he adds. "It ends in the emotion of what we have experienced through the four years of the show, and of Clark moving forward, and this idea of what it means to have hope, and what it means to have love, and what it means to be aware of the humanity around you, which embodies Superman. The element of Lex in there is the hope, not just even for Lex, but it's the representation of the evil in the world and how you can fight against the evil and how sometimes you can win. So to me, it's more emotional and metaphysical. I don't necessarily think there's words you can put to it."

That scene was actually the last thing Cudlitz filmed in the final season, which made his emotions even more intense in the moment.

"Even thinking about it kind of f---s me up," he says. "I'm getting upset now thinking about it. It was a really wonderful day on set. In a lot of ways it's fan service, which some people look down on but I don't — you want closure and you get that, and [Clark] says goodbye to all his friends and he says goodbye to the boys. Why are the young [versions of his sons] there? Well, because that's what you want to see. Again, there's no linear narrative to it. It's the emotion of saying goodbye as an audience member to the characters and actors you grew to love, and I just thought it was freaking awesome. I was a mess at the end."