The character of Lois Lane, first created for comic books by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1938 to be the love interest for Clark Kent and his alter-ego Superman, was adapted to television in 2001 by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar - this is the fourth time the character has been adapted into a live-action television series.

In Smallville, Lois comes to town to investigate the apparent death of her cousin Chloe Sullivan at the start of the fourth season.

Described as "fiercely independent",[2] critics have favorably compared this version of Lois Lane against the other live-action performances of the character in both film and television.

Lois Lane makes her first appearance in season four's "Crusade" when she comes to Smallville investigating the death of her cousin Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack).

Lionel (John Glover) discovers the truth and sends someone to kill her, but Lois and Clark stop the would-be killer, allowing Chloe to testify.

[5] With Lex Luthor's (Michael Rosenbaum) help in the episode "Devoted", Clark manages to get Lois her remaining credits ahead of schedule so that she can attend Metropolis University, and vacate his bedroom.

[7] In "Fragile", Lois continues her duties under Martha Kent (Annette O'Toole), who is requested by the Governor to take Jonathan's place after he suffers a fatal heart attack.

[8] In season six's "Sneeze", Lois discovers an interest in journalism after she is almost struck by a barn door that falls out of the sky while she is jogging.

[9] In "Wither", she begins a romantic relationship with billionaire Oliver Queen (Justin Hartley), who, unbeknown to her, masquerades at night as the vigilante Green Arrow.

[11] When Oliver is forced to leave Metropolis to track down all of Lex's experimental facilities, in the episode "Justice", his relationship with Lois comes to an end.

Her attempt to craft a news story out of the situation lands her a job at the Daily Planet - in the basement alongside her cousin Chloe.

[18] In the season eight premiere, Lois believes that Lex is responsible for Chloe's arrest by the Department of Domestic Security, and goes to his mansion to search his files for her location.

[22] In the season eight finale, Lois and Tess Mercer (Cassidy Freeman), Lex Luthor's handpicked successor to LuthorCorp, get into a physical fight at the Daily Planet.

[23] In season nine, Lois returns from the future suffering from visions of Earth having been overrun by aliens, led by Zod (Callum Blue).

[30] In "Masquerade" and "Booster", Lois convinces Clark to develop an alter-ego as a way of hiding his true identity as the heroic "Blur".

[33] In the series finale, Clark convinces Lois that her being in his life makes him stronger, but the ceremony is interrupted by Darkseid's sudden invasion of the Earth.

After the character was cleared for more episodes, the creative team decided to plant her in the Kent home so that she could provide a constant annoyance to Clark.

To separate the physical appearance of Lana and Lois from each other, the producers had highlights added to Durance's hair, as she and Kristin Kreuk both shared a similar brunette coloring.

[35] Series writer Brian Peterson discusses how the writing staff chose to develop the character: "In the Smallville pilot, Al and Miles established Lex and Clark as best friends, which is, to me, one of the best aspects of the show.

As Lois steps closer to her ultimate destiny at the Daily Planet, the writers have continued to evolve the character by having her grow out of the "black and white" mindset and have her begin seeing shades of gray.

[2] When developing the characteristics of their version of Lois Lane, the writers took inspiration from other leading ladies in cinema, for example, Karen Allen's character Marion Ravenwood, from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Durance believes that because of Lois's self-imposed walls, even if she thought about Clark in a romantic notion for just an instant she would immediately make it out to be a joke because she is not ready for that type of closeness, yet.

[42] Before the end of Smallville's seventh season, IGN's Daniel Phillips compared the actresses who have portrayed the character of Lois Lane over the past three decades.

Apart from her beauty, Phillips states that "Durance makes Lois intelligent, capable, funny and dangerously curious – exactly the type of woman Clark Kent would fall for".

Written by Bryan Q. Miller, who also wrote for the television series, Lois's story continues as she lives her life with Clark, who has now become known to the world as "Superman".