If you’re like me, and maybe every other millennial that grew up in the 2000s, you’ll recognize these two terms: “Smallville” and “SimCity 4.” So, when I was approached by the subject of this feature about a project they were working on, I was super excited… pun intended.
In Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, a small city nestled between Lakes Superior and Huron, 3D modeler and lifelong Superman fan Derek Pearce is painstakingly rebuilding Smallville from the ground up, But virtually.
His mission: to recreate the world of the hit CW series “Smallville” inside SimCity 4, transforming it into an explorable, digital homage that doubles as the backdrop for a comic adaptation of the show.
“I wanted to take Smallville and give it a new medium,” Pearce explained. “SimCity 4 is so customizable—it lets you build entire worlds, modify assets, and make the city come alive. So I thought, why not rebuild every exterior from the series and tell the story in a comic format using those scenes?”
Pearce began the project nearly five years ago, starting with basic recreations of familiar landmarks like the Smallville Savings and Loan and LuthorCorp Plaza. Life got in the way, and the files sat untouched on a hard drive, until this year.
“I found the old folders while organizing some things and thought, ‘I forgot this existed!’” he laughed. “Since then, my skills in 3D modeling have improved a lot, so what the project could’ve been then is nothing compared to what it’s becoming now.”
The revival also coincided with new tools.
“When I started, AI modeling tools didn’t exist,” he said. “Now I can input an image of Clark or Lana into an AI modeler and generate 3D figures as a base. It cuts down the work time by half.”
Pearce leads a small but passionate team that includes his wife’s cousin, who edits images for the project through her small business, and a collaborator from Simtropolis, a long-running SimCity fan community, who handles vehicle modeling.
“Buildings I can do,” Pearce said. “Cars, not so much. So it’s great to have help from people who specialize in those details.”
Their current goal is to release the first two issues of Smallville Rebuilt-titled “Secret Origins, Part One and Part Two”—on October 6, 2026, a date chosen intentionally.
“That’s the day of the meteor shower in the Smallville pilot,” Pearce noted. “It just felt right.”
The comic will adapt the show’s first episode into a two-part visual story, blending SimCity renderings with illustrated characters. Fans who support the project on Patreon will be able to download and explore the digital world themselves, provided they own SimCity 4.
But Pearce’s ambitions go beyond one episode.
“Once Season 1 is finished, we’ll see how people respond,” he said. “If it’s well-received, we’ll move on to other seasons—especially the Metropolis storylines. The show rarely showed the city in full, and now I’ll be able to create it completely.”
Every building and street in Smallville Rebuilt carries Pearce’s signature attention to detail. The team uses maps from the official Smallville companion guide and fan-made layouts to maintain accuracy, while taking creative liberties where the show’s production geography was inconsistent.
“The series filmed in Cloverdale, British Columbia, so we reference real buildings there,” he said. “Sometimes we have to guess what the back of a building might look like, since you never saw it on camera.”
The project is also peppered with Easter eggs. One of Pearce’s favorite touches is a dentist office labeled “Dr. David Nutter,” a nod to the director of the show’s pilot episode.
“You can’t really see it in-game unless you zoom in, but we share those little details on our socials,” he said. “They’re our way of honoring the people who made the show what it was.”
Pearce’s connection to Smallville runs deep.
“I was actually a Batman fan growing up,” he admitted. “But one day my younger brother was watching Smallville, and I started watching over his shoulder. Before I knew it, I was hooked.”
Working at a now-defunct Canadian retailer called Zellers, Pearce even traded work shifts for “Smallville” DVDs when the store was liquidating.
“I think I’ve watched the series through at least 30 or 40 times,” he said.
His favorite seasons? “Definitely Season 4 and a few from Season 10,” Pearce said without hesitation. “Season 4 had that great storyline with the Kryptonian crystals, and I loved seeing Clark step closer to Superman. Season 10’s ‘Homecoming’ episode, where he sees the future, still gives me chills.”
As Superman surges back into pop culture with James Gunn’s upcoming film and the announced Supergirl spinoff, Pearce hopes his project can reignite nostalgia for Smallville among longtime fans—and introduce it to a new generation.
“So many younger people are discovering Superman now through the new movie,” he said. “Maybe they’ll see our work and realize there’s this other version out there that inspired everything.”
For Pearce, rebuilding Smallville isn’t just about nostalgia, it’s about preservation and creativity.
“That show inspired a lot of what superhero TV became,” he reflected. “This project is my way of saying thank you, and making sure Smallville stays alive in a world people can actually explore.”
Pearce and his team are diligently working on enhancing their project. You can follow the progress here.
Great Caesar’s Ghost! I am in total love and awe of this!! I need to find and try it as soon as I can!
Now I really want to see what can be done with places like Gateway City (Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl, and The Spectre’s old haunt) and Themyscira!
If only we could somehow take our Amazon sororities from The Sims 4 and put them in a SimCity mod… we’d finally have had that “Wonder Woman visits Smallville” play date.