SUPERGIRL is an action-adventure drama based on the DC Comics character Kara Zor-El, Superman’s (Kal-El) cousin who, after 12 years of keeping her powers a secret on Earth, decides to finally embrace her superhuman abilities and be the hero she was always meant to be. Twelve-year-old Kara escaped the doomed planet Krypton with her parents’ help at the same time as the infant Kal-El. Protected and raised on Earth by her foster family, the Danvers, Kara grew up in the shadow of her foster sister, Alex, and learned to conceal the phenomenal powers she shares with her famous cousin in order to keep her identity a secret. Years later at 24, Kara lives in National City assisting media mogul and fierce taskmaster Cat Grant. She works alongside her friend and IT technician Winn Schott and famous photographer James Olsen, who Grant just hired away from the Daily Planet to serve as her new art director. However, Kara’s days of keeping her talents a secret are over when Hank Henshaw, head of a super-secret agency where her sister also works, enlists her to help them protect the citizens of National City from sinister threats. Though Kara will need to find a way to manage her newfound empowerment with her very human relationships, her heart soars as she takes to the skies as Supergirl to fight crime. [x]
DC TV Watch: CW Showrunners Preview the (Super) Four-Way Crossover
THR rounds up the major twists, new mysteries and more announcements for all the DC Comics TV shows.
Welcome to The Hollywood Reporter's weekly DC TV Watch, a rundown of all things DC Comics on TV. Every Friday, we round up the major twists, epic fights, new mysteries and anything else that goes down on The CW's Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl and Black Lightning and Fox's Gotham
Arrow
Break out the tissues | With only a handful of episodes remaining between now and the upcoming four-show crossover between all of The CW's Arrow-verse shows, the producers are opening up about the heart at the center of it. "The biggest surprise will be the emotional component of the crossover," Arrow executive producer Wendy Mericle tells THR. "I don't think anyone is going to see that coming. It's very much a dark love story. It's the underpinnings of that that will make the Earth-X element a real contrast to that. Oliver [Stephen Amell] has a big role to play in it and it's bigger and better than any crossover we've done in the past. It's going to be epic."
Finally unmasked | After a year of waiting, Arrow finally revealed the identity of masked killer Vigilante, and it turned out to be presumed dead ex-partner and ex-lover of Dinah Drake (Juliana Harkavy) aka Black Canary. The night he was shot in the head in front of Dinah was the same night of the particle accelerator explosion, and the dark matter that gave Dinah her canary cry also changed Vincent Sobel (Johann Urb). But instead of finding Dinah right away, he let her believe he was dead and started killing people that he believed deserved to die. While the initial moment of Vincent unmasking was anticlimactic, since his face was unfamiliar to viewers, the emotional fallout for Dinah having to deal with her ex coming back from the dead and causing problems for Team Arrow is sure to give Harkavy some meaty material to work with this season.
The Flash
The center of it all | "In typical hero-villain fashion, the wedding is not the wedding that Barry (Grant Gustin) and Iris (Candice Patton) probably dreamed of," executive producer Todd Helbing tells THR. "This crossover is so different. Any time you're trying to keep the narrative going on four different shows, it's challenging. The Earth-X scenario we put everyone in really played into the story that we wanted to tell."
Worst party ever | But before the wedding bells can ring, the bachelor and bachelorette parties took place, and the night could not have gone worse for the future Mr. and Mrs. West-Allen. Barry ended up drunk thanks to a super shot of Cisco's (Carlos Valdes) making, and Ralph Dibny (Hartley Sawyer) managed to get all the guys arrested at a strip club ... where Joe's (Jesse L. Martin) sort-of-step-daughter was performing. Talk about an awkward discovery for Joe. At least all the girls banded together at Iris' party to save Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) and help her realize that her Killer Frost side doesn't have to be a killer. Iris and Caitlin bonded to the point where the future bride asked Caitlin to be her maid of honor.
New hero alert | Back in the season three "Flashpoint" premiere, a throwaway line about a superhero named Citizen Cold saving the day didn't seem like anything more than a fun easter egg. But according to the network's official synopsis for the four-show crossover, Wentworth Miller is returning (as part of his last run of episodes on The CW's DC series) as Citizen Cold, a friendly superhero ally of everyone gathered for the big wedding. Does this mean that Captain Cold's doppelganger from the Flashpoint timeline will somehow travel to Earth-1 to help battle the Earth-X villains? Or is Citizen Cold from Earth-2 or Earth-X or any other Earth? And what will this heroic version of Captain Cold be like? How different will he act? So many questions that a short episode synopsis can't answer!
Legends of Tomorrow
Can the Legends make you cry? | Echoing Mericle's comments, Legends of Tomorrow executive producer Phil Klemmer reveals that, surprisingly, it's the Legends team that will end up bringing the waterworks during the four-show crossover. "You'll be most surprised that Legends is capable of making our audience cry," Klemmer tells THR. "I thought last season really leaned into the comedy and that season three we tripled down on that. There's some ludicrous moments. Things get bananas, and yet in this crossover, we have this thing that happens that will honestly move you to tears." Calling it "a testament to our actors that they can do this comedic, super rompy fun show that also has moments of genuine emotion," since the final episode of the crossover takes place as an episode of Legends of Tomorrow, expect some big heroic sacrifice or climactic last-second miracle save to really play with your emotions.
Super epic | "You will be surprised to see that we cram more superheroes onto the bridge of the Waverider than is physically possible," Klemmer says of the massive final conclusion to the four-way crossover. "I was responsible for writing a scene that had like 22 people in it and I had to keep a list just to remind myself who was in the scene. I think we need a wider lens to make sure we can keep everyone in the same frame. It's preposterous. And then you have doppelgangers, just trying to keep track of who was in the scene and what costume they're supposed to be wearing was a real math and science."
Voice of evil | The mysterious big bad of Legends this season has only been named so far as Mallus by those afraid of his potential for power and evil. But soon he will be heard, as Fringe alum John Noble has been cast as the voice of Mallus, first appearing in this week's episode. Now this doesn't mean that Noble will be playing the live-action character onscreen, however, as The CW's DC series are infamous for having actors voice villains before unmasking them as a completely different actor, like The Flash's Zoom (voiced by Tony Todd, played by Teddy Sears) and Savitar (voiced by Tobin Bell, played by Gustin).
Supergirl
The inevitable heartbreak | As much as viewers hoped this moment would never come, it finally did: "Sanvers" is no more. Unable to compromise their views about having children, Alex (Chyler Leigh) and Maggie (Floriana Lima) were forced to break up during this week's Supergirl. It's no surprise that the wedding isn't going to happen, as Alex had been struggling with Maggie's desire to not have children, but that didn't make their split any less painful. Leigh and the Supergirl showrunners, however, have made it clear that they will continue to explore Alex's storyline as she continues to grow. Producers are aware of the "Bury Your Gays" trope and, while Lima's availability cut the storyline short, there is one small victory in their split: Maggie wasn't killed off.
Get ready for a heavy dose of Danvers during Monday’s episode of Supergirl.
In the wake of the Sanvers breakup, Alex (Chyler Leigh) and Kara (Melissa Benoist) head home to Midvale for an episode that delves deeper into the Danvers sisters’ relationship. Through flashbacks that feature a young Kara (Isabel Vidovic) and a young Alex (Olivia Nikkanen), viewers will see how the traumatic experience of losing a childhood friend actually brought the sisters together.
“What’s really fun is you’ll get to see, through the way they interact, more about how their relationship started when Kara first came to Earth, how it grew, how it became so close, and why they’re so close nowadays,” Benoist tells EW.
Leigh likens the flashbacks to a Scooby-Doo-type murder mystery that will provide a lot of answers about how the two sisters were able to cement their relationship. “It’s this mystery that has to be solved, basically, and they have to work together, and so you really do get a better sense of seeing what that looked like and how they had to figure things out and quickly,” Leigh says. “We only got bits and pieces of that that we’ve seen in flashbacks in the past seasons, so this is one [episode] that’s really cool. I think the tone is going to be really different.”
On the flip side, Leigh says the present-day story line is more Thelma and Louise. “I’ll just say we snag a really sweet ride,” she says. “It was a lot of fun. We got to drive around in this really sweet car and just cruise, which was great. We were out in the open fields on a Vancouver day and we just got to hang out and have fun. I can’t wait to see it.”
The point of the trip home is so that Alex can take her mind off her recent breakup with Maggie (Floriana Lima), but the sisters end up relying on each other as both are really suffering heartbreak — Mon-El (Chris Wood) was forced to leave Earth in the season 2 finale, effectively ending his relationship with Kara. “Kara and Alex can both lean on each other,” Leigh says. Benoist concurs: “Alex and Kara always manage to find each other when they most need each other. Their sisterhood is so powerful.”
The story line is part and parcel of the show trying to return to the sister dynamic that drove much of the first season, but was less prevalent in season 2. “I can’t tell you how happy I am about that,” Leigh says. “I’m so grateful for all of the Sanvers stuff, I will never not be supportive of that and just so grateful of that journey. But there’s a part of it that was really like, ‘I miss working with Melissa!’ In season 2, it’s almost like people sort of got sectioned off — it was like Kara and Mon-El, Hank and M’gann, and then it’s me and Maggie, and then it’s Winn and James.”
“Maybe the two of them got so involved in their romances last season,” Benoist adds, “which was wonderful and we need to discover that as people ourselves, but this season you’ll see them both support each other in loss. It’s only fitting that Kara runs into the fray for Alex because that’s what they do for each other. She just went through the same and Alex was there for her. Honestly, those have been my favorite scenes to shoot thus far this season just because Chyler and I have a really special relationship and we care about each other a lot. That kind of bleeds into the scenes.”
Leigh agrees, taking every chance she gets to rave about her on-screen sibling. “I just absolutely adore their relationship,” Leigh says. “I say it all the time, and people are probably like, ‘Yeah, right,’ but I love Melissa so much. So the both of us are really excited to hear that it was going to be a bigger focus this season. I feel like it brings more of that grounding and that heartbeat of the show back a bit.”
[Editor’s note: These interviews were completed prior to news of sexual harassment allegations against Supergirl executive producer Andrew Kreisberg.]
Supergirl on Set: Melissa Benoist & Chyler Leigh Talk “Midvale”
Tonight’s episode of Supergirl sees Kara (Melissa Benoist) and her sister Alex (Chyler Leigh) dealing with recent losses and going to a special person — their mother — with a return to a place that shares a name with the title of the episode, “Midvale.” The episode features flashbacks to their younger times and provides a good break for their adult counterparts.
Last week KryptonSite was part of a group of journalists who were able to visit the Vancouver-based sets of Supergirl, and while there, we were able to speak with Melissa and Chyler about what we will be seeing on the November 13 episode.
“I know when I’ve gone through hard breaks and need support, my mother is the first person I want to see,” Melissa saidof how she identifies with the trip Kara and Alex are taking to see Eliza Danvers.
“I loved the idea when the writers said [they were going to] do this episode in Midvale,” Melissa continued. “I thought it was brilliant and I think it’s really touching story of sisterhood. You get to see a lot of history between Alex and Kara that we’ve only ever alluded to. We had a flashback in Season 1, but this one goes further and is really touching and intimate and sentimental for these two women. And, just to show how close they really are and how unbreakable their bond is, which I love.”
“The cool thing about the episode is Melissa and I were really bookends,” Chyler added. “So, you see us come together and you see Kara really trying to be just there for Alex because Alex is just not having it and going back home begrudgingly. Knowing that she is going to walk in the door and mom’s going to be standing there.”
This is a new situation for Alex, and no one knows what to expect. “You have those moments and you see your mom, and it’s just like either really great because you know you can release, or really awful because you know you’re gonna release,” Leigh explained.
You can watch video of what Melissa and Chyler had to say about “Midvale” below.
Thanks so much for the new thread and all the spoilage. :)
Clarice83
11-13-2017 07:03 PM
Crisis on Earth-X - New Teaser Promo
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Supergirl Recap: Road to Recovery (Plus, Melissa Benoist and Chyler Leigh Map Out the Danvers' Next Steps)
Monday’s Supergirl hit pause on the drama in National City to give the Danvers sisters some time to heal.
Alex and Kara made tracks for their hometown of Midvale, where they balanced their time between bickering and reflecting on their childhood… which was also full of bickering. (Side note: This episode only flashed back 10 years, yet Alex was still in school. Exactly how young are we to believe she is?)
Anyway, young Kara and Alex — while perfectly cast — had a pretty rough go of things in their early days. “Before you came along, I had two great parents,” Alex told Kara at one point. “Now, I just have you. And you are not worth it.”
But everything changed when Kara’s only friend turned up dead, sending her into full-on Harriet the Spy mode. Alex began to see the hero inside her new “sister,” then joined her in her pursuit for the truth. (Did any other Smallville fans get goosebumps when Kara referred to “Clark’s friend Chloe” who has a “Wall of Weird”?)
It turned out that Kara’s friend was killed because he was the only person who knew the secrets of a crooked local cop, one who held Alex at gunpoint until Kara swooped in to save the day. Working together to solve the murder brought the sisters closer than ever.
(J’onn J’onnz secretly disguising himself as a DEO agent that looked suspiciously like Erica Durance was also a nice addition to the story.)
“I thought it was brilliant and I think it’s really touching story of sisterhood,” Melissa Benoist told reporters during a recent visit to the show’s Vancouver set. “We had a flashback in Season 1, but this one goes further and is really touching and intimate and sentimental for these two women. And, just to show how close they really are and how unbreakable their bond is, which I love.”
Now that we’ve got the girls’ past out of the way, let’s talk about how they’re doing now. “Ice cream, pizza and the couch scenes are my favorites,” Chyler Leigh told reporters, which is probably a good thing, because Kara and Alex will need to keep leaning on each other as they move past Mon-El and Maggie.
“They’re really kind of in the mud together,” Leigh said. “The great thing about the sister dynamic is that regardless of what circumstance they’re facing, they’re always going to be each other’s champion. They’re always going to be the one that’s like, ‘We’re going to walk through this together.’ You really see that true dynamic. And that was a big part of what Andrew [Kreisberg] talked to me initially about before we started the season is we really want to see that relationship come back as the heartbeat of the show.”
Tell me you have something about Supergirl‘s Mon-El! I miss his face on my screen! —Rebecca
We have a big ol’ preview story coming up for the next episode, but until then, I can share that Melissa Benoist described his return as “mysterious,” adding that his reunion with Kara is very muchin keeping with the “different tone” of the title hero’s storyline this season.
Melissa Benoist Teases Mon-El’s Return & The Legion
From the trailer for the November 20 episode of Supergirl, we know that Mon-El (Chris Wood) will be coming back, and it’s also known that members of the Legion of Super-Heroes including Saturn Girl and Brainiac 5 are on the way.
Recently on the Supergirl set in Vancouver, British Columbia, KryptonSite was part of a group of journalists who asked Melissa Benoist what we can expect from Mon-El’s return in “Wake Up.”
“It’s pretty mysterious,” Melissa teases. “I think this season, we’ve really delved into a different tone, a different atmosphere for Kara. She’s really figuring out how to own her alien-ness, if you will, and in turn I think she’s finding her womanhood at the same time through grief and that grief is apparent even in the coloring of the show, so I think it’s a long– it won’t be the reunion you expect.”
And what does Kara think of Mon-El’s two new Super-friends?
“I don’t want to tease too much, but the fact that the Legion is coming to the show has such a hold in the comic book world, especially with Superman, Martian Manhunter, specifically,” she says. “That’s really exciting for us. For Kara, it’s a brand new set of problems that you’ll see pretty quickly.”
We’re calling it now: The Martian Manhunter is R.J. Brande in this continuity, right?
Supergirl “Wake Up” airs Monday, November 20 on The CW. You can watch our interview with Melissa — where she also talks about how obvious it was that the Legion of Super-Heroes would be coming — below.
