KK: "She's (Lana) really great this year. She's not like she was before -- it's a drastic change. I'm really excited about playing her. I always have been but this year she has a new direction in her life. She's a more mature woman, and it's fun to play her."

Kreuk thinks that part of the attraction of Jason is that "he's funny and warm. He makes Lana laugh, and they enjoy each other's company." It's certainly far more of a traditional "teen" relationship than Lana had with Clark, who, even when he knew that he was about to lose her when she went to France, did not share his secrets. "It's not as complicated a relationship with Jason. He's not as intense or as burdened by his destiny as Clark is. She and Jason have a lot of fun with each other, and she finds him really great company."

Although she regularly points out that she doesn't know what the producers and writers have in mind, Kreuk thinks that Clark will always be someone special to Lana, "but I don't think they'll get back into a relationship. I think the time for that has passed." After all, Lana does have other things on her mind. "She's more concerned about this mysterious tattoo that she's got on her back, and that's why she's come back to Smallville!" she points out.

After three years where Lana was on the periphery of the 'arc' portions of the Smallville stories, this season the investigations she starts making into her tattoo put her right in the middle of the ongoing portion of the story. "I haven't been asking the producers for that," Kreuk admits, "but I think it will be really great this season for me to be involved. I haven't yet had a chance to be in the arc over the past three years, and I think it will be a lot of fun. Lets see what happens when Lana's involved in the grander scheme of things!"

Kreuk is looking forward to the opportunity to see Lana "trying to figure everything out, and explore these new sides of herself. She's been defined by her relationships [with Clark, Whitney and Adam Knight] before," Kreuk explains, "but she's growing as an individual now. I hope this season she will be able to continue to grow and be seen as an individual, and that people don't just define her by how she is with Clark."

Kreuk is delighted by the changes, because they alter the dynamic for her as an actor, and give her far more to play with. "It gives me the opportunity to have her be her own self," she emphasizes. "She can be thinking about things other than how she is with Clark, how she wants to make Clark happy, how can she be there for him? How can she work with him? Her outlook is much greater than that now."

Kreuk laughs out loud at the idea that she might know what the future holds for Lana with regard to Clark's Kryptonian heritage. "I have absolutely NO idea if Lana will learn the secret at all or not," she admits. "I just don't know -- I think that depending on what she learns during her investigations, she may know by the end of the year."

In the comic books, Clark does share his secret with Lana eventually, and given her increased maturity this year, maybe it might now be appropriate for Smallville's Lana to learn the secret. "I think that as the season goes on, she's going to find out stuff about Clark," Kreuk agrees. "And I think that she's far more likely to be able to accept it, and deal with it as she is now, rather than as she was last year, where she was totally oblivious to any odd goings-on, except for in Smallville, where there were odd whackos who attacked her and tried to kill her. I think with that extra awareness, that would make her much more understanding and focused."

Kreuk also laughs at the idea that there might be some follow up to the embrace shared by Lex and Lana at the airport during "Covenant". She agrees that the relationship between the two is complicated, partly because Lana doesn't always necessarily understand Lex's motivations. "She really does care about him a lot," she points out. "I think as things have gone along, there's been a bit of a sexual chemistry between them, but I don't think we're going to see that actualized in any way this season -- although you never know!"

One of the big shakeups this year has been the introduction of Erica Durance as Clark's future wife, Lois Lane. Although there is obviously the potential for conflict between the past and future loves of Clark's life, Kreuk notes that at the moment, "I don't think she really cares that much about Lois. They get along -- they accept each other. But Lana's not really in scenes with her that often -- she's not really involved that much with the high school stuff this year."

With everything for the new season buzzing around in her head, understandably the events of the third season are becoming ancient history to Kreuk. But the one episode that springs to mind when she thinks of hightlights was "Relic," in which she had the chance to play not just Lana in the 21st century, but step back 40 years, don a wig and makeup, and bring a very different character back to life. "Relic was a lot of fun for me to do last year," she recalls. "I had a great time -- it's always fun to get to play a different character. Louise was awesome -- totally different and rebellious. She was unabashedly after success, stardom and fame. It's always fun to work on a sci-fi show because I like the opportunity in episodes to play other characters. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to play other characters again this season."

Hope you guys enjoyed reading these excerpts. The most exciting part for me is that Kristin thinks Lana may know Clark's secret by the end of this season!