Supergirl is an American television drama that aired on CBS from October 25, 2015 to April 18, 2016 and moved to The CW since October 10, 2016, and concluded on November 9, 2021.
Summary[]
Kara Zor-El (Melissa Benoist) was sent to Earth from the doomed planet Krypton as a 12-year-old by her parents Zor-El (Robert Gant) and Alura (Laura Benanti). Alura gave her instructions to protect her infant cousin Kal-El, and informed her that like her cousin, she would have extraordinary powers under Earth's yellow sun.
While en route to Earth, Kara's spacecraft was diverted by a shock wave from Krypton's explosion and forced into the Phantom Zone, where it stayed for 24 years. During this period, time stopped for Kara so, when the spacecraft eventually escaped the Phantom Zone, she still appeared to be a 13-year-old girl.
By the time the spacecraft crash landed on Earth, Kal-El had grown up and become Superman. After helping her out of the craft, Superman took Kara to be adopted by his friends, the Danvers family. The main series begins more than a decade later when the now 24-year-old Kara is learning to embrace her powers after previously hiding them.
Kara hid her powers for more than a decade, believing that Earth didn't need another hero, but she has to reveal her powers to thwart an unexpected disaster, setting her on her own journey of heroism as National City's protector.
Kara discovers that hundreds of the criminals her mother prosecuted as a judge on Krypton are hiding on Earth, including her mother's twin sister Astra (also played by Benanti) and Astra's husband Non (Chris Vance), who seek to rule the world.
After briefly becoming suspicious of the true agenda of her boss, Hank Henshaw (David Harewood), she and her adoptive sister Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh) secretly discover that Henshaw is actually a benevolent alien refugee, J'onn J'onzz, who has resided on Earth for over fifty years after escaping a holocaust on his homeworld of Mars.
J'onn infiltrated the DEO to reform the organization as well as to watch over both Alex and Kara in addition to guiding the latter in the use of her powers due to his experience with his own abilities.
Kara is also being targeted by Earth's criminals as the result of her being related to Superman, and later on encounters an emerging community of metahumans and individuals from parallel universes. In the process, she accumulates her own rogues gallery who seeks to defeat and destroy her and is aided by a few close friends and family who guard her secrets—most notably her cousin's longtime friend, James Olsen (Mehcad Brookswhich also serves as a major plot in high tech mogul Maxwell Lord's (Peter Facinelli) scheme to expose Kara's identity.
Cast[]
- Melissa Benoist as Kara Zor-El / Kara Danvers / Supergirl: A 24-year-old Kryptonian living in National City, who must embrace her powers after previously hiding them. She assists her adoptive sister as part of the Department of Extra-Normal Operations (DEO) as she discovered the truth that her foster father also worked for the DEO so they would not take her, while Alex's co-workers at the DEO help her perfect her powers. Kara works as Cat Grant's assistant at CatCo. Benoist expressed her excitement over portraying the character, and being able to "[tell] a story about a human being really realizing their potential and their strength". Malina Weissman portrays a young Kara.
- Mehcad Brooks as James Olsen: A former Daily Planet photographer, James moved to National City and became the new art director for his former colleague, Cat Grant, at CatCo Worldwide Media. He is a potential love interest for Kara. Among his reasons for moving across the country include his breakup with his fiancée, Lucy Lane, and keeping an eye on the newly revealed Supergirl for Superman. While working at the Daily Planet, James received the Pulitzer Prize for taking the first photograph of Superman.
- Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers: Kara's adoptive sister. She is a doctor and scientist who works for Hank Henshaw at the DEO. Having been extensively trained in combat after joining the DEO, Alex in turn provided rigorous training to Kara in order to decrease her reliance on her powers. Initially, like Kara, she becomes suspicious of the DEO and thus her own role upon learning of their father having worked there in order to protect Kara, but Alex ultimately learns that Henshaw is the Martian survivor J'onn J'onzz in shape-shifted disguise, whom her late father had rescued before his and the real Henshaw's deaths. Jordan Mazarati plays a young Alex.
- Jeremy Jordan as Winslow "Winn" Schott, Jr.: A tech expert who works alongside Kara at CatCo, he serves as one of her allies, helping her develop her costume and aiding her in her adventures. Winn has an unrequited crush on Kara and is a rival with James for her affection. However, at the end of "For the Girl Who Has Everything", Winn has seemingly accepted the fact that it's best that they remain as best friends, and in "Solitude", he begins seeing Cat Grant's new assistant, who is also Kara's rival: Siobhan Smythe, who is subsequently fired by Cat and who, in "Worlds Finest", becomes a supernatural metahuman supervillain called Silver Banshee. In the series, he is the son of Toyman. Cat nicknames him Toyman Junior after she finds out.
- David Harewood as Hank Henshaw and J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter: A former CIA agent and current head of the DEO, who goes on high alert when Supergirl reveals herself, worried that her otherworldly abilities pose a threat to humankind. However, the "real" Henshaw died with Jeremiah Danvers in Peru while hunting the alien J'onn J'onzz. After Henshaw died, the 317-year-old J'onzz, who has shape-shifting abilities, took Henshaw's likeness in order to reform the DEO from within as well as to watch over Alex and Kara. The evolution of Henshaw was discussed during the filming of the pilot, with the executive producers jokingly saying that Harewood would be a good actor to play the Martian Manhunter in a potential television series, to which DC Comics' Geoff Johns asked why it could not be done in Supergirl. Harewood reflected that he had difficulty "find[ing] an angle to play Hank Henshaw" in the pilot, and became excited when he was told about the change to his character's backstory.
- Calista Flockhart as Cat Grant: The shallow and superficial founder of the media conglomerate CatCo Worldwide Media, who feels, since she "branded" Kara as "Supergirl", that she has proprietary custody over the new hero. Before she founded CatCo, she was a gossip columnist at the Daily Planet, and before that, the personal assistant to the Daily Planet's Editor-in-Chief, Perry White. Cat investigates and reveals that Supergirl is Superman's cousin, which then causes Kara to become a target for some of Superman's rogues gallery. Cat also serves as a mentor to Kara, dispensing advice about being a woman in a man's world. In the episode "Hostile Takeover", she suspects that Kara is Supergirl.
- Floriana Lima as Maggie Sawyer: A detective for the National City Police Department who takes a special interest in the cases involving aliens and metahumans.
- Chris Wood as Mon-El: A superhero with similar powers to Superman and Supergirl from the planet Daxam, Mon-El lands on Earth in the pod at the end of season one.
Episode number[]
| Season | Episodes | First air date | Last air date | Network | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 20 | October 26, 2010 | April 18, 2016 | CBS | |
| Season 2 | 22 | October 10, 2016 | May 22, 2017 | The CW | |
| Season 3 | 23 | October 9, 2017 | June 18, 2018 | ||
| Season 4 | 22 | October 14, 2018 | May 19, 2019 | ||
| Season 5 | 19 | October 6, 2019 | May 17, 2020 | ||
| Season 6 | 20 | March 30, 2021 | November 9, 2021 | ||
Production[]
Development[]
By September 2014, Warner Bros. Television was looking to create a television series centered around Supergirl. Executive producers for the series include Greg Berlanti (also a creator/producer for Arrow and The Flash), Ali Adler, who are both writing the script, and Berlanti Productions' Sarah Schechter. DC Comics' Geoff Johns is also expected to be part of the project. Titles under consideration for the series included Super and Girl. Berlanti confirmed the show shortly after, and stated it was in development and had yet to be pitched to networks. On September 20, it was announced that CBS had landed Supergirl with a series commitment, with an expected premiere in 2015 of the 2015–16 television season. In January 2015, CBS Entertainment Chairman Nina Tassler revealed the show would be a procedural, saying, "There will be [crime] cases, but what [executive producers] Ali Adler and Greg Berlanti pitched was a real series arc for her. The beauty of it is now with shows like The Good Wife and Madam Secretary, you can have serialized story elements woven into a case of the week. She's a crime solver, so she's going to have to solve a crime."
In January 2015, it was announced by The Hollywood Reporter that Melissa Benoist would star as Supergirl Benoist later revealed that auditioning for the part "was a long, drawn-out, three-month process"; she was the first actress looked at for the role, although Claire Holt and Gemma Atkinson were also considered. In March 2015, Blake Neely, composer for Arrow and The Flash, revealed he would be composing for Supergirl. The show was officially picked up to series on May 6, 2015. It was originally set to premiere in November 2015, before being moved up to October 26, 2015. The pilot episode was screened at San Diego Comic-Con International 2015 on July 8 and 11, 2015. In July 2015, Adler spoke on how much influence Superman would have on the show, saying, "Our prototype is the way the president is seen on Veep. It's certainly [inspired by] so much of what Julia Louis-Dreyfus' character goes through. Ultimately, this is a show about Supergirl and we really want to see it through her lens." On November 30, 2015, CBS ordered an additional seven episodes of Supergirl, for a full season of 20 episodes.
On May 12, 2016, Warner Bros. Television announced that the series had been renewed for a second season of 22 episodes and would move to The CW. The season debuted in October 2016. With the move of the production to Vancouver, it was unclear if Calista Flockhart would remain with the series, as her original contract stipulated that she work near her home in Los Angeles. The CW president Mark Pedowitz said Flockhart wanted to remain with the series and that "We're in ongoing discussions... we're happy to have her in [in whatever capacity] works out." Flockhart ultimately reached a deal to be recurring in the second season, with the production flying her to Vancouver every few weeks to film material.
On January 8, 2017, The CW renewed the series for a third season, which debut on October 9, 2017. The third season saw Jessica Queller and Robert Rovner become the series' executive producers and co-showrunners along with Kreisberg, following Adler's departure; Adler remained an executive consultant for the series. Both Queller and Rovner joined Supergirl midway through the first season as co-executive producer and consulting producer, respectively, with Rovner promoted to executive producer ahead of the second season
Reception[]
Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave the series premiere a 95% approval rating from critics and with an average rating of 7.6/10 based on 73 reviews. The site's consensus states: "Melissa Benoist shines as Superman's plucky little cousin in Supergirl, a family-friendly comic-book adaptation that ditches cynicism for heart." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 75 out of 100 based on reviews from 33 critics, indicating "Generally favorable reviews". Cliff Wheatley of IGN gave the pilot episode a 7/10, praising Melissa Benoist's performance as Kara and the fun take on the Superman mythos.
Rotten Tomatoes gave the premiere of the second season a 100% approval rating from critics and with an average rating of 8.3/10 based on 20 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "The arrival of the more famous cousin in Supergirl does nothing to detract from the show's lead, who continues to deliver strength, action, and relatability." Metacritic assigned a score of 81 out of 100 based on reviews from 4 critics, indicating "Universal acclaim".
External Links[]
- Supergirl on The CW Wiki (Fandom)
- Supergirl (Arrowverse) on Fandom
- Supergirl on Wikipedia