TAGGED AS: Comic Book, DC Comics, Superheroes, The CW
At the end of last week’s Supergirl, Jeremiah Danvers (Dean Cain) got away. He stole the DEO’s National Alien Registry to share with Lillian Luthor (Brenda Strong) at Cadmus. Jeremiah’s daughters Kara (Melissa Benoist) and Alex (Chyler Leigh) will have to stop them, and that also opens the doors for more problems and new characters this season, including former Lois Lane Teri Hatcher.
Supergirl and Arrowverse producer Andrew Kreisberg and Leigh spoke with reporters at The CW offices after a screening of last week’s episode, “Homecoming.” Now that everyone has seen Jeremiah’s return and has all kinds of questions about what he’s up to, Kreisberg and Leigh share 10 things that are coming up for the rest of the season on Supergirl.
Jeremiah is also in the upcoming episode 15 “Exodus,” and that won’t be the last you’ll see of Dean Cain this year. “He’s in episode 15 and then we’re still figuring out how we’re going to wrap it all up in a nice little bow at the end of the year,” Kreisberg teased.
Alex let Jeremiah go because she couldn’t kill her own father, even though he betrayed her. That causes problems for Alex in the DEO.
“The question of where do Alex’s loyalties lie plays a major part of the next episode,” Kreisberg said. “Battle lines are drawn a little bit.”
Leigh said Alex’s inner conflict over Jeremiah continues. “It maintains,” Leigh said. “It’s like any kind of parent-child relationship, especially because they’ve been apart for so long and Alex wholeheartedly wants to believe that everything is pure and good on his behalf. Once you start to see how deep the rabbit hole goes and where his loyalties lie one way or another, it’s heavy. It is definitely very emotional, very heavy.”
Kreisberg added that Alex’s girlfriend Maggie (Floriana Lima) plays a part in Alex’s activities in “Exodus.” “Alex and Maggie go rogue next week,” he said.
The final shot of “Homecoming” revealed Lillian has some sort of ship. Kreisberg thinks fans can figure out what she’s up to given her prior plans and how she sent Jeremiah to bring her a list of all the aliens on Earth.
“It’s a shimmy on Lillian’s desire to rid the earth of aliens,” Kreisberg said. “It’s an interesting debate in the next episode between Jeremiah and Alex, if his plan is any more humane [than Lillian’s]. Some of the talking points in the episode, I think, are reflective of the current debate in our world about dealing with immigrants, which we were very conscious of and wanted to speak to that.”
“Exodus” will also mark Hatcher’s first appearance on Supergirl. Kreisberg would only describe her character as completely different than any she’s ever played before.
“She is so not playing Lois, and she is so not playing any character I’ve ever seen her play before,” Kreisberg said. “She’s so not Susan from Desperate Housewives. She’s really playing something completely different that was in her repertoire of all the things she’s ever done.”
The big question for superfans is: Will Hatcher reunite with Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman‘s Superman Cain?
“We’d love to,” Kreisberg said. “They would love to. There’s a plan.”
Kevin Sorbo also guest stars this season and Kreisberg was even more mum on his role. “Most of his scenes are with Teri,” was all he’d share.
In “Luthors,” Lillian took Lena (Katie McGrath) to one of Lex’s evil lairs where he had some of his toys laying around. She pointed out the Warsuit, Atomic Axe, and Black Mercy, but discovered something secret in a box. She knew what it was that Lex had been working on, but it was carefully kept hidden from viewers.
Kreisberg promised Lillian opens the box in the season finale: “I know what it is,” he said.
Kreisberg said that Alex has a scene coming up that pushes the limits of network TV.
“My favorite scene all season long [is] where Alex interrogates a Cadmus guard,” he said.
Leigh had a different take on the scene: “Interrogates — there’s not much talking,” she teased.
Network television has shown interrogations the likes of Jack Bauer on 24. What could Alex be doing that raises red flags with the censors?
“Let’s just say we’ve had multiple rounds with Standards and Practices,” Kreisberg said. “They weren’t happy.”
When Mon-El (Chris Wood) confronted Jeremiah about his suspicions, Kara kicked him out of the apartment. On his way out, Jeremiah told Mon-El he knows who he really is and hopes Kara knows the truth. Kreisberg said this secret will be revealed in episode 16 and provide more conflict for Kara and Mon-El.
“The Mon-El secret comes to light in episode 16, so you don’t have much further to go,” Kreisberg said. “He doesn’t quite get that it’s the coverup, not the crime, which I think is really the issue.”
At the end of March 20’s episode, Kara and several Supergirl costars leave for The Flash to participate in a musical episode. Alex stays behind.
“Someone had to hold down the fort in the DEO and take care of things,” Leigh said.
Kreisberg explained they had to leave Alex out of the musical, so that they had someone to film with on Supergirl.
“Kara, J’onn, Winn, and Mon-El guest star on The Flash,” he said. “We would have had everybody, but somebody had to actually be part of an episode of Supergirl. We actually keep filming these things, so Alex and Maggie have a bigger storyline in that episode to free other people up.”
About that musical crossover (spoilery): Supergirl will be whammied into a coma by the Music Meister (Darren Criss) at the end of “Star-Crossed,” Then, in the March 21 The Flash episode “Duets,” according to the show synopsis, Barry/The Flash (Grant Gustin) will join her in an alternate Earth where the two supers will be powerless and have to follow a song-and-dance script to escape. Fun!
Supergirl is also working on several episodes that pair off characters in new ways. Now that Winn has a girlfriend, Lyra (Tamzin Merchant), James (Mehcad Brooks) is a third wheel.
“Episode 16 is a big Winn/Lyra/Jimmy storyline,” Kreisberg said. “The Winn/Lyra story is really a Winn/James/Lyra story. Winn, James, and Lyra have a really funny story in [episode] 18, too, where the three of them try crime-fighting as a trio, which doesn’t necessarily go well. She kind of becomes the Yoko of the team.”
There’s also an upcoming episode where Kara teams up with Maggie.
“My new favorite episode [Leigh] doesn’t even know about yet that’s a Kara/Alex/Maggie story,” Kreisberg said. “It’s sort of a ticking-clock story. Alex is in serious trouble, and it’s up to Kara and Maggie to save her. It becomes a story about the sister and the girlfriend both love her and are debating the best way to save her.”
Supergirl hasn’t forgotten Kara’s day job. Kreisberg said that her boss Snapper Carr (Ian Gomez) plays a big role in “Exodus,” and there’s another episode that’s all about being a journalist.
“Episode 18 is called ‘Ace Reporter,’” Kreisberg said. “It’s about Kara and journalism. That’s been very important to us, especially in the times we now find ourselves living in. We’re one of the few shows on television that actually has a journalist as a lead character.
“Fifteen also has a healthy dose of Kara as a reporter,” Kreisberg continued. “Especially episode 18, we really get a chance to talk about the importance of journalism and the importance of journalistic ethics and how important having the objective truth be out there now.”
When Supergirl moved to Vancouver, Calista Flockhart couldn’t go with them. So Cat Grant became a recurring character instead of a weekly regular, passing daily CatCo duties over to Snapper. Kreisberg said Cat could return, but there are no firm plans.
“We’re working on it,” Kreisberg said. “We love Calista. Calista loves us. She loves the show. She has other commitments and family, but we’re trying to work it out.”
Supergirl airs Monday nights at 8/7C on The CW
