Supergirl news: The Black Mercy! Indigo! Cast and creators talk what — and who — is on the horizon

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DEO-SupergirlThe cast and crew of the freshman superhero hit Supergirl took questions from Television Critics Association reporters yesterday on the CBS soundstage that housed the series’ D.E.O. headquarters.

The first query pertained to the series’ powerful Red Tornado episode which showed Supergirl unleashing a torrent of emotions in the face of a formidable opponent — and the realization that General Lane sought her help and then sabotaged her. 

Supergirl herself, Melissa Benoist (dressed in Kara-appropriate prep wear and ponytail) took first comments.

“That is one of my favorite episodes that we’ve done to date, just because of what I got to explore in that theme of women’s expectations on how to handle anger,” she revealed. “And I didn’t realize when we started shooting and when I got to do those scenes where it was literally just all hell broke loose, how good that felt because of how little I do that in my daily life (laughs).”

Co-creator, writer and executive producer Andrew Kreisberg chimed in, noting that the writers had an entirely different storyline for the episode, but realized they had something to say about women in the workplace and how they’re expected to manage negative emotions led them down a different path. One that also drove home the idea that Supergirl is not always the galaxy’s sunniest superhero … or superhero series.

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“SUPERGIRL — Melissa Benoist and Iddo Goldberg as Red Tornado Photo: Darren Michaels/CBS ©2015 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved

“I can watch that scene with Melissa at the end of that episode, like, all day,” Kreisberg smiled. “It is so powerful … just her just standing there just unleashing all of this fury.  And I think that that’s something that everybody has felt, you know, at some point, this need to just let it all out.

“I also thought was so interesting about that episode, just for me, and why it’s so special to me, is I think that was a misperception that this show was sort of overly sunny, and that Supergirl herself might have been overly sunny. We always saw her as this person who experienced probably the worst trauma you can experience.  She literally lost everybody she loved:  Her mother, her father.  And she’s one of the few remaining survivors. That’s a lot to take in, and it’s a lot to walk around with, and that, sort of, survivor’s guilt.  And that was really the first episode where you really got to see that side of the character and that aspect of the character, which is so important to us.  Even when we are breaking a story that could be considered to be a little bit lighthearted, we always take into account the damage that Kara sustained as a child, and what she — and that she brings that with her to her adult life.”

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SUPERGIRL — Melissa Benoist. Photo: Robert Voets/CBS ©2015 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Co-executive producer Sarah Schechter pointed out that it also allowed the splendid Mehcad Brooks’ genial James “Jimmy ” Olsen to point out how precarious it can be for black men to express anger, too. “That’s something that this show does a lot — we do try to reflect how complicated and hard it is to live in the world for everyone for different reasons,” she said.

“But in that moment Kara took an emotion that’s traditionally thought of as negative and turned it to her advantage, to defeat the villain,” co-creator and co-writer Ali Adler pointed out. “We talk about that a lot.

Then talk moved on to Supergirl’s suspenseful midseason finale.

“It was another great episode that I think tapped into what makes Kara special,” Kreisberg said. “Obviously, there were certainly allusions to torture, and the need for it and the morality for it, and that the humans were willing to do things that are considered abhorrent and the aliens weren’t. We thought was such an interesting comment.  And there was another episode whether — whether or not people realize it — touching on Kara’s loss.  That even though her aunt has done terrible things, it’s not just a search for redemption in her. It’s that need that Kara has to connect with somebody from that world.  Especially someone who looks like her mother. 

Calista Flockhart’s self-absorbed super mogul Cat Grant came up next, as a reporter wondered how on earth such a shrewd woman wouldn’t notice that her assistant is the very spit of Supergril.

“To  a certain degree, we have to just kind of own the mythology that sort of exists — ut we didn’t want to deal with it directly with Cat and Kara,” said series co-creator Greg Berlanti. “What was just as interesting, I think, to us is just the nature of their dynamic.  Their relationship, you know, the boss/prodigy, big sister/little sister dynamic.  … Part of what we’re setting up, in a way, is by not telling her the truth, there’s , in essence, a bit of a betrayal there too.  We have a great way to do this. We knew we needed to do it at one point. And once we revealed the Martian Manhunter, we figured there was a way we could do it in a realistic way.”

As for Flockhart herself, she saw the situation a bit more practically. “People seem to be really bothered by it that I don’t know … they’re just interested in that,” she shrugged. “I just think of Cat as this sort of narcissist. … She’s talking at her a lot, but she’s not really looking at her. … And when she sees Supergirl, it’s a whole different kind of feeling. She probably flutters a little bit, even though she hides it.”

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SUPERGIRL, Photo: Trae Patton/CBS ©2015 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Benoist says that while everyone involved is incredibly proud of the series, she feels it particularily keenly when kids recognize her as Supergirl.

“I feel that people were ready to see a strong female heroine — the way that Supergirl is, the actress explained. “And I get to experience that every time a little girl comes on set, or just any child really. It’s kind of indescribable.  But children are really the way that I see the true effect of what we’re doing here, and I feel a lot of humble pride about that.”

Then it was time for announcements, which held big news for fans of the DC Comics lore — with an extra helping of good news for Smallville fans. Kreisberg began.

“One thing that I’m super excited about — and I talked to Greg early on about wanting to do when he brought me on to the project — was one of my favorite [Superman] comic books is “For the Man Who Has Everything” by Alan Moore.  So Episode 13 is actually “For the Girl Who Has Everything.” We’re doing an adaptation of that comic book, but with Kara. We just finished filming it, and it’s the Black Mercy, it’s ‘Kara wakes up and she’s back on Krypton and has no idea how or why she got there.’ … it seemed like such a pipe dream when we were having these early conversations, but now it’s part of the show.”

Adler went next: ‘We’re so proud and excited to welcome, in the role of Indigo, Laura Vandervoort, who had the role of Supergirl in Smallville. We’re just so excited to have her here on these stages.” Vandervoort will make her first onscreen appearance in episode 15.

Then talk turned to David Harewood’s D.E.O. chief Hank Henshaw, recently revealed to be Justice League’s Martian Manhunter AKA J’onn J’onzz.

Harewood launched the discussion with a joke: “First of all, I want to say how strange it is to have so many people in my secret government organization,” he said sternly. “You’re all going to be mind‑wiped before you leave.”

When the laughter subsided, Harewood revealed that he didn’t know his character’s secret identity until after he shot the pilot — which resulted in some personal confusion over what exactly his character’s deal was.

“It wasn’t particularly easy to enjoy,” Harewood admitted of making episode 1. “But as soon as they told me I was playing J’onn J’onzz — I think it was Andrea who sat me down, and Ali, and they gave me this pile of comic books and a little model of J’onn J’onzz —  I went home that afternoon and read about eight hours’ worth of comic books, and was just blown away. I thought, this character had such an amazing story — backstory — and amazing mythology. And I had no idea that he was so popular amongst the DC community, and also amongst the black community, who have seen J’onn J’onzz as almost the kind of honorary black person. Which I was really happy about. …And as far as the real Hank Henshaw goes, he’s a lot of fun to play. He’s an absolute sadist, and I hope to see him again.”

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Kreisberg said future episodes will reveal how J’onn became Hank, explaining “part of Hank Henshaw that we see on our show, that J’onn is inhabiting, is an affect.  He is  impersonating somebody.  But I do think that there is an aspect of the character Hank Henshaw is supposed to be protecting the world from destruction.  And I think J’onn, underneath that, takes that very seriously, just like Kara, who lost everything.  He lost his family; his wife; his children.  He is truly the last survivor.  He doesn’t even have a cousin out there or an aunt, you know.”

“It’s sort of everyone’s mission,” Kreisberg continued.  “Which I think is so interesting when we’re writing the show. Whether it’s Astra or Maxwell Lord or Kara or J’onn, they’re all saying the same thing — which is, this is never going to happen on my world.  They’re all trying to protect the earth, and they’re all trying to do it in different ways, and sometimes horrific ways.  But everybody really thinks that they’re on the side of the angels.”

Berlanti said the Henshaw twist came of a conversation with Geoff Johns while they were filming the pilot. Watching Harewood work, someone mentioned that the actor would have been perfect as J’onn. Realizing they could do something about it,

“We realized, oh, that would be super cool and a nice twist on some of the things we’ve sort of done before, where the namesake was the opposite,” Berlanti grinned. “So people would go in with the presumption that he was a bad guy, and we’d actually be watching a hidden good guy underneath that — always with the delight of David being able to play both roles.”

Kreisberg said episode 14, directed by Lexi Alexander, will feature Master Jailer as its villain — along with one of the series’ most epic fights yet: “One word: chains.”

Asked about Olsen’s relationship with Kara/Supergirl, Brooks says he likes being “a voice of some sort of levity and some wisdom to somebody who is saving the world.  I think James has a special role in the DC Universe, because he’s kind of the voice, the eyes and the ears of the audience — because most of us are never going to be superheroes.  The closest we can get to it is someone that we think is heroic. So I think it’s a big responsibility, but I love it.”

Then Jeremy Jordan fielded a question about being the show’s, er, “unrequited guy,” which drew laughs from sympathetic reporters.

“Winn would be the best boyfriend ever!” Jordan exclaimed. “He’s not one to, like, go out in the world and seek things out for himself. He’s kind of that kind of person that  sits around and waits for things to happen to him.  We’ll see, coming up soon, that there’s been some pretty crappy things that have happened to him in his past that have almost stunted him in a way, and so he has to learn how to get past them before he can kind of move forward to have any sort of meaningful relationship with anybody, whether it’s friendship or more.”

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SUPERGIRL —  Pictured left to right: Melissa Benoist and Jeremy Jordan Photo: Erica Parise/Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. © 2015 WBEI. All rights reserved.

But fear not, Schott fans. “This episode that’s coming up [on Jan. 18], “Childish Things,” which features Winslow Schott, Sr., played by Henry Czerny, who does the Toyman — it’s Jeremy’s hour!” Kreisberg says.

“I think the fun thing about this show is that we see all the characters around Supergirl and all of their things that they need to be better, that they need to make better about themselves.  And through her and through her strength, as she grows stronger, she sort of affects other people around her. Especially Winn. He’s someone that doesn’t have a whole lot of confidence at all, and you’ll see throughout the course of the season that he sort of begins to understand what his real power is, and gets a lot of confidence. And a lot of it is just thanks to Kara.”

A super girl, indeed.

New episodes of Supergirl premiere Mondays at 8/7CT on CBS.

About Lori Acken 1195 Articles
Lori just hasn't been the same since "thirtysomething" and "Northern Exposure" went off the air.