Lex Luthor is back.
After insisting last week that he wouldn't return for the May 13 series finale of "Smallville," Michael Rosenbaum has had a change of heart.
The CW announced on Wednesday that Rosenbaum, who played Clark Kent's arch nemesis through the first seven seasons of the series, which debuted in 2001, will appear in the final episode.
“I’m delighted to return for the series finale. I’m simply doing it for all of the fans out there who made 'Smallville' the great success it is," Rosenbaum said in a statement. "I appreciate all of their passion, their relentlessness and even their threats. Ha ha."
Since parting ways with the show in 2007, Rosenbaum's résumé has been relatively meager, including a 2009 voice role in the animated series "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" and a part in the 2010 Kevin Spacey comedy "Father of Invention."
It's uncertain how, exactly, Luthor will re-emerge on the series -- in the character's initial departure from the show, he was buried in what seemed to be an icy tomb following the colllapse of the Fortress of Solitude, leaving his fate in serious doubt. However, according to the series' executive producers, Brian Peterson and Kelly Souters, he'll definitely be going head-to-head with Kent.
"There’ll be no doubt about how Lex becomes the great rival in Clark Kent’s life. He is the villain of the story," they said in the statment.
