# Alfred Gough
**Alfred Gough** (Alfred Fabian Gough III, also credited as Al Gough; born 1967 in Leonardtown, Maryland) is an American screenwriter and producer who, with his longtime writing partner Miles Millar, co-created the television series *Smallville* and *[Wednesday](https://www.edgepedia.org/wednesday-tv-series)* and co-wrote films including *[Shanghai Noon](https://www.edgepedia.org/shanghai-noon)* (2000), *Spider-Man 2* (2004), and *[Beetlejuice Beetlejuice](https://www.edgepedia.org/beetlejuice-2)* (2024).[1](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/46247/alfred-gough) • [2](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/contributor/alfred-gough/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1967, Leonardtown, Maryland, USA; full name Alfred Fabian Gough III[1](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/46247/alfred-gough) |
| Signature partnership | Writing and producing partnership with Miles Millar since their last semester at USC film school, where they sold their first script[2](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/contributor/alfred-gough/) |
| Created | *Smallville* (2001–2011) for The WB/The CW; *Wednesday* (2022–) for Netflix[3](https://smallville.fandom.com/wiki/Alfred_Gough) • [4](https://time.com/7307222/wednesday-season-2-what-to-remember/) |
| Smallville rule | The pair instituted a "no tights, no flights" rule: Clark Kent would not fly or wear the Superman suit during the show's run[3](https://smallville.fandom.com/wiki/Alfred_Gough) |
| Film credits | *Lethal Weapon 4* (story, 1998), *Shanghai Noon* (2000), *Showtime* (2002), *Spider-Man 2* (screenstory, 2004), *Herbie Fully Loaded* (2005), *The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor* (2008), *I Am Number Four* (2011), *Beetlejuice Beetlejuice* (2024)[5](https://cinegraph.org/people/alfred-gough) |
| Wednesday record | Season 1 earned 341.23 million hours viewed in its first seven days, at the time the record for any English-language TV series on Netflix[4](https://time.com/7307222/wednesday-season-2-what-to-remember/) |
| Personal life | Married to Beth Corets since September 1, 1996; three children[1](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/46247/alfred-gough) |
## Career beginnings
Gough and Millar began as feature writers before entering television. Their agent suggested they write television spec scripts, which led to staffing as story editors on two short-lived shows, *Timecop* on ABC and *Martial Law* on CBS. Their first created series, *The Strip*, ran on UPN in 1999 and was made with [Joel Silver](https://www.edgepedia.org/joel-silver), with whom they had just worked on *Lethal Weapon 4*. That show led to an overall deal (exclusive studio contract paying a producer to develop projects) with Warner Bros. Television.[6](https://www.buddytv.com/exclusive-interview-alfred-gough-creator-executive-producer-of-smallville/) Gough has said he was not a comic book fan growing up.[6](https://www.buddytv.com/exclusive-interview-alfred-gough-creator-executive-producer-of-smallville/)
## Smallville
In the summer of 2000, while Gough and Millar had a deal at Warner Bros. Television, the studio's president Peter Roth approached them to develop a small-screen Superman series, after the studio's feature division had acquired the rights to the character.[7](https://www.theringer.com/2026/10/19/dc/smallville-25th-anniversary-legacy-superman-alfred-gough-miles-millar) Gough and Millar decided against a series with flying and a cape, adopting a "no tights, no flights" rule under which Clark Kent would never don the suit or fly during the show's run.[3](https://smallville.fandom.com/wiki/Alfred_Gough) Before that, their concept for a younger-hero origin series had been pitched as a Bruce Wayne show; the plan was set aside and the idea was redirected to Superman.[8](https://www.space.com/entertainment/space-movies-shows/smallville-at-15-an-imperfect-superman-show-but-the-best-clark-kent-story-ever-told) The pitch itself met resistance: the WB network initially declined even to hear it.[7](https://www.theringer.com/2026/10/19/dc/smallville-25th-anniversary-legacy-superman-alfred-gough-miles-millar)
**Run and workload.** *Smallville* ran for ten seasons from 2001 to 2011, with 22-episode seasons.[9](https://los40.com/2025/03/24/la-vuelta-de-smallville-y-el-superman-de-tom-welling-no-sucedera-pero-sera-por-una-buena-causa/) • [10](https://www.cinemablend.com/streaming-news/wednesday-creators-know-frustrating-wait-for-new-season-why-episodes-take-so-long) From Season One through Season Seven, Gough served as one of the show's executive producers and wrote numerous episodes, including the pilot, *Rosetta*, *Exile*, and *Memoria*; he and Millar co-wrote the season openers of the first four seasons.[3](https://smallville.fandom.com/wiki/Alfred_Gough) Each episode was shot in eight days following a seven-day preparation period, and the writing team worked in Los Angeles while the series was produced in Vancouver.[11](https://www.mediabistro.com/wp-content/uploads/freelancers/181351/2DYHdzyLsEVzU6_V3CXWLSWdA.pdf)
On April 3, 2008, after seven seasons, Gough and Millar issued a public statement announcing their departure, thanking the cast and crew and handing the show to executive producers Kelly Souders, Brian Peterson, Todd Slavkin, and Darren Swimmer.[3](https://smallville.fandom.com/wiki/Alfred_Gough)
## Film work
Alongside *Smallville*, Gough co-wrote a series of feature films, typically with Millar: *Lethal Weapon 4* (1998, story), *Made Men* (1999), *Shanghai Noon* (2000), *Showtime* (2002), *Shanghai Knights* (2003), *Spider-Man 2* (2004, screenstory), *Herbie Fully Loaded* (2005), *The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor* (2008), *I Am Number Four* (2011), and *Beetlejuice Beetlejuice* (2024, screenplay and story).[5](https://cinegraph.org/people/alfred-gough) He was a producer on *[Hannah Montana: The Movie](https://www.edgepedia.org/hannah-montana-the-movie)* (2009) and *[Bullet to the Head](https://www.edgepedia.org/bullet-to-the-head)* (2012).[12](https://www.thetvdb.com/people/300744-alfred-gough) He and Millar also wrote for a short-lived 2011 *Charlie's Angels* reboot.[12](https://www.thetvdb.com/people/300744-alfred-gough)
The *[I Am Number Four](https://www.edgepedia.org/i-am-number-four-film)* job began in the summer of 2009 when Gough and Millar noticed that DreamWorks had bought the rights to an unpublished book about a super-powered teenage alien hiding out in a small town on Earth, issues they had also wrestled with while writing *Smallville*.[13](https://insideinfo.com/writingsamples/print/2011.jan-feb.creative.screenwriting.pdf)
## Wednesday
Gough and Millar developed *Wednesday*, an Addams Family spinoff for Netflix centered on a teenage [Wednesday Addams](https://www.edgepedia.org/wednesday-addams) at the boarding school Nevermore Academy. The idea was theirs rather than the studio's: they tracked down the rights, pitched to the Addams Foundation, and wrote a 15-page series treatment with photographs, descriptions, and episode log lines.[14](https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/you-have-power-as-a-writer-alfred-gough-and-miles-millar-on-netflixs-wednesday/) The writer's room began during the first week of pandemic lockdown in 2020, and the pilot script was sent to [Tim Burton](https://www.edgepedia.org/tim-burton)'s agent, who told them Burton had never been interested in television; Burton responded within four days, saying he loved the script.[14](https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/you-have-power-as-a-writer-alfred-gough-and-miles-millar-on-netflixs-wednesday/) • [15](https://www.finaldraft.com/blog/write-on-wednesday-creators-al-gough-and-miles-millar) Burton is executive producer alongside the two showrunners, and the series stars [Jenna Ortega](https://www.edgepedia.org/jenna-ortega).[16](https://www.imdb.com/fr-ca/name/nm0332184/news/)
The series premiered on Netflix on November 23, 2022. Season 1 set a then record for an English-language TV series on Netflix, with 341.23 million hours viewed in its first seven days.[4](https://time.com/7307222/wednesday-season-2-what-to-remember/) Season 2 premiered on August 6, 2025 (episodes 1 to 4), with the second part following on September 3; Gough also made a cameo appearance as TSA Officer #3 in the season's first episode.[4](https://time.com/7307222/wednesday-season-2-what-to-remember/) • [1](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/46247/alfred-gough) Gough and Millar have described the eight-episode streaming model as far more hands-on than the 22-episode network schedule of *Smallville*, with the two of them on set every day during Season 3, which was shot in Ireland over roughly nine months.[17](https://www.thewrap.com/media-platforms/tv/smallville-25th-anniversary-creators-al-gough-miles-millar-interview/) The roughly three-year gap between Seasons 1 and 2 reflected a writers' strike, a move of production from Romania to Ireland, and other logistical issues.[10](https://www.cinemablend.com/streaming-news/wednesday-creators-know-frustrating-wait-for-new-season-why-episodes-take-so-long)
Gough and Millar have also extended the Addams Family franchise beyond the series: Cinegraph lists an untitled animated Addams Family reboot film among their projects, with Gough credited as writer.[5](https://cinegraph.org/people/alfred-gough)
## Other work
Between *Smallville* and *Wednesday*, Gough and Millar created *Into the Badlands* for AMC (2015–2019) and were executive producers on *[The Shannara Chronicles](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-shannara-chronicles)* (2016–2017).[2](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/contributor/alfred-gough/) • [1](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/46247/alfred-gough) Gough also directed episodes of *Smallville* (*Zero* and *Vortex*, both 2002) and of *Timecop* (*A Rip in Time*, 1997).[12](https://www.thetvdb.com/people/300744-alfred-gough) With Millar, he wrote *Double Exposure*, their first novel.[2](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/contributor/alfred-gough/)
A retrospective assessment places *Smallville* as an early driver of the on-screen superhero boom: in the summer of 2000 most studios and networks had little interest in superheroes, and the show's success a year later preceded the [Marvel Cinematic Universe](https://www.edgepedia.org/marvel-cinematic-universe) by nearly a decade.[7](https://www.theringer.com/2026/10/19/dc/smallville-25th-anniversary-legacy-superman-alfred-gough-miles-millar) In 2026, marking the show's 25th anniversary, Gough said it was gratifying that the series remained in the conversation whenever a new Superman adaptation appears, and the show found new audiences internationally on Netflix, reaching the service's top 10 list in 55 countries between January and June of that year.[7](https://www.theringer.com/2026/10/19/dc/smallville-25th-anniversary-legacy-superman-alfred-gough-miles-millar)
## References
1. [Alfred Gough, TVmaze](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/46247/alfred-gough)
2. [Alfred Gough, Hachette Book Group contributor page](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/contributor/alfred-gough/)
3. [Alfred Gough, Smallville Wiki](https://smallville.fandom.com/wiki/Alfred_Gough)
4. [Everything You Need to Remember About 'Wednesday' Before Season 2, TIME](https://time.com/7307222/wednesday-season-2-what-to-remember/)
5. [Alfred Gough, Cinegraph](https://cinegraph.org/people/alfred-gough)
6. [Exclusive Interview: Alfred Gough, BuddyTV (2006)](https://www.buddytv.com/exclusive-interview-alfred-gough-creator-executive-producer-of-smallville/)
7. [The Large Legacy of 'Smallville', The Ringer (2026)](https://www.theringer.com/2026/10/19/dc/smallville-25th-anniversary-legacy-superman-alfred-gough-miles-millar)
8. ['Smallville' at 15, Space.com](https://www.space.com/entertainment/space-movies-shows/smallville-at-15-an-imperfect-superman-show-but-the-best-clark-kent-story-ever-told)
9. [La vuelta de 'Smallville', Los40 (2025)](https://los40.com/2025/03/24/la-vuelta-de-smallville-y-el-superman-de-tom-welling-no-sucedera-pero-sera-por-una-buena-causa/)
10. [Wednesday's Creators on Why Episodes Take So Long, CinemaBlend (2025)](https://www.cinemablend.com/streaming-news/wednesday-creators-know-frustrating-wait-for-new-season-why-episodes-take-so-long)
11. [Al Gough: Smallville's Man of Steel, Produced By magazine (2002)](https://www.mediabistro.com/wp-content/uploads/freelancers/181351/2DYHdzyLsEVzU6_V3CXWLSWdA.pdf)
12. [Alfred Gough, TheTVDB](https://www.thetvdb.com/people/300744-alfred-gough)
13. [Creative Screenwriting interview on I Am Number Four (2011)](https://insideinfo.com/writingsamples/print/2011.jan-feb.creative.screenwriting.pdf)
14. ["You Have Power as a Writer": Alfred Gough and Miles Millar on Netflix's 'Wednesday', Creative Screenwriting (2022)](https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/you-have-power-as-a-writer-alfred-gough-and-miles-millar-on-netflixs-wednesday/)
15. [Write On: Wednesday Creators Al Gough and Miles Millar, Final Draft blog (2025)](https://www.finaldraft.com/blog/write-on-wednesday-creators-al-gough-and-miles-millar)
16. [Alfred Gough news, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/fr-ca/name/nm0332184/news/)
17. ['Smallville' at 25: How the Superman Show Influenced Comic Adaptations, TheWrap (2026)](https://www.thewrap.com/media-platforms/tv/smallville-25th-anniversary-creators-al-gough-miles-millar-interview/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Producers, studio executives, and showrunners › Television producers and showrunners › Science fiction and fantasy showrunners*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license