Clark Kent's father is coming back from the dead.

How and why we don't yet know, but we do know when: IGN reports that John Schneider will be back as Jonathan Kent for the show's final season. He'll return September 24 in the season premiere in an episode entitled 'Lazarus.'

He might not be back on a permanent basis, alas, but he is expected to appear in at least one other episode this season.

Jonathan -- Clark's adoptive father who raised him with good old American small-town values -- had just been elected to the state senate when he was killed, presumably at the hands of Lionel Luthor (John Glover) in Season 5.

Since leaving 'Smallville,' the former 'Dukes of Hazzard' star appeared on '90210' as Liam's step-dad, and as another doomed dad, Marshall Bowman, on 'The Secret Life of the American Teenager.'

And we'll never forget his stint on 'Nip/Tuck' as porn king Ram Peters, the very antithesis of wholesome role model Jonathan Kent.