Zack Snyder begins his quest for Superman

Ian Somerhalder

Superman will be played by an unknown - or a low-profile TV actor - in his next big screen outing, if new casting reports are to be believed.

Zack Snyder has begun his quest to find the perfect new Man of Steel, and has decided not to bring back Brandon Routh for his big budget superhero movie.

Which will disappoint fans of Superman Returns – even those who didn’t love the film generally agree that Routh made for a decent supes.

Instead, Snyder has sent out feelers for unknowns aged between 28-32. Though Deadline report that True Blood ’s Joe Manganiello and The Vampire Diaries’ Ian Somerhalder (above) are two TV regulars who might also be in with a chance to don the tights.

Whoever Snyder eventually chooses, he’ll have to move pretty fast – shooting on his Superman will begin June 2011.

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.