Audiences know and love Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang, Clark Kent’s love interest in the coming-of-age superhero series Smallville. After the hit show ended in 2011, she went on to appear in Beauty and the Beast, a supernatural horror show, Murders in a Small Town, a cozy mystery series, and Burden of Truth, a legal drama.

But as Kreuk tells us, she doesn’t often get a chance to take part in a comedy. That all changed this year with I Kill The Bear, a bizarre new series from Letterkenny and Shoresy creator Jared Keeso. 

The series follows the Thibaults, a French-Ontarian family of Hollywood bear wranglers. After 100 years of bear wrangling, they decide to make this film their last. Kreuk stars in the show alongside a stacked cast of Canadians, including Chad Kroeger from Nickelback, Georges St-Pierre, Sarah-Maude Beauchesne, and Jonathan Torrens.

We were thrilled to connect with Kreuk to hear about all things I Kill The Bear, her venture into comics, and her online book club, The Madwoman’s Library. 

What drew you to I Kill The Bear?

 I was drawn to I Kill the Bear because it was a comedy (I rarely get to be in comedies), it was Jared Keeso, and it was bananas. The material also scared me to a certain extent, as it is highly provocative. 

How would you describe your character in the series?

Kathy is one of the more level-headed people in the series. She has become a blockbuster movie director, but she is an independent filmmaker at heart. While making hugely commercial films, she has had to manage the egos, absurdity, and delusion that become normal on many a film set. But she is far from immune, and she must confront her own susceptibility to the pressures of societal judgement. 

There is an incredible ensemble cast in this series—what did you like most about working with them? 

This cast was a joy. I have never laughed so hard on a set in my life.  


With Jared Keeso as the creator of the series, what do you think fans of Letterkenny and Shoresy will like about I Kill The Bear?

I Kill the Bear is not either of those shows. But they are all unmistakably Jared’s. This series is far more absurd, though. It has a much looser, more tenuous relationship to realism. This allows Jared to push viewers to the extremes of ideas and beliefs. 

It’s been 15 years since Smallville ended—what is it like for you to look back on that experience now and interact with fans of the show, many years later? 

My entire understanding of, and relationship to, Smallville has evolved. It’s a funny thing to experience a show through multiple lenses: my own experience and the experiences of others. There was a certain myopia in how I processed the show. Which makes sense because, well, I am only living inside my life. But with time, distance, and conversations with some of the wonderful people who love the show, it is easier for me to see the web of connectivity and let it deepen and reshape how I make sense of my life and my experiences.

Your debut comic, Black Star, is out now. Why did you decide to venture into comics?

Yes! I co-wrote Black Star with my friends Peter Mooney and Eric Putzer after we created a fantasy television series inspired by Winnipeg’s history and lore. We shot Burden of Truth in the city for four seasons, and we were inspired by its weirdness and the richness of its mythologies. When we struggled to find a home for that show in Canada, we didn’t want to let go of the world we had built (which we had created to encompass centuries of backstory), and comics were the best medium to support the stories we had created. Then, serendipitously, Heath Amodio approached me and asked if I had any material I wanted to turn into a comic. And he hooked us up with Titan as our publisher.  

 

 
 
 
 
 
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We love your book club! What has been the most rewarding part of running The Madwoman’s Library?

I started posting about books on Instagram because I couldn’t think of a fulfilling way to use the platform. I could promote a show, but that felt limited. One thing I hate about social media is that the easiest path is often to submit to the algorithm. And the algorithm flattens. And it is all so insidious because I walk away believing that my thoughts and wants and hopes and dreams and identity are my own, never even realizing how shaped I have been by the platform itself. 

So, one of the most rewarding parts of this has been engaging with a group of other people in a way that feels messily human, full of complicated feelings and ideas amongst very different people (discussing Duras’ The Lover was knotty), within the confines of platforms that want us to be combatants to trigger engagement and award us for fitting neatly in boxes. Another reward is far simpler, though perhaps more pure: we get to talk about books. 

What kinds of roles do you find yourself drawn to at this moment in your career?

I find this challenging to answer. When something comes to me, I weigh the practical aspects along with the substance of the work. Living at home in Canada is very important to me. And I do like to challenge myself. That said, I have been lamenting the fact that no one hires me to fight anymore. I would love to do some fighting again. Ha. 

Are you working on anything right now that you can share with us?

Well, we are working on the second arc of Black Star, which is so much fun. And the trade paperback of the first arc comes out in March at bookstores and comic shops. Season 3 of Murder in a Small Town airs in February. The book club will start a second arc in January, which will include much more non-fiction. 

The first two episodes of ‘I Kill The Bear’ are out now on Crave, with new episodes dropping on Fridays.