‘Supergirl’: Everything to Know About Season 2

Supergirl has flown up, up and away from CBS to its new home on The CW, and with the network move comes some pretty big changes.

From all-new sets as the show moved production from Los Angeles to Vancouver as well as several cast additions filling out some iconic DC Comics roles, season two is going to look and feel very different from the super-procedural that aired on CBS. Below, The Hollywood Reporter rounds up everything to know going into the new season in advance of the show’s big Monday return.  

Family reunion

After an entire year of CBS teasing the existence of Superman on Supergirl without ever actually showing his face, The CW comes out of the gate swinging, introducing Kara’s (Melissa Benoist) cousin Clark Kent (Tyler Hoechlin) in its very first episode since adopting the series. (Hoechlin is slated to appear in the first two episodes of the season with the potential to recur after that). Clark comes to National City to team with Kara when a threat proves to be too much for just one Kryptonian to handle. While donning the tights and cape is a daunting task for anyone to take on, especially when the big screen version is being portrayed by Henry Cavill, Teen Wolf alum Hoechlin is more than up to it. His charm and physical confidence as Superman is balanced out by his awkward sincerity as Clark Kent. 

“It’s definitely incredibly surreal,” Hoechlin says of portraying the iconic DC Comics character. “I know the character represents so much to so many people. This is not a generational thing. This is something literally spread across so much time. There is a lot of responsibility with this character.”

Who’s in the pod?

At the end of the season one finale, Kara was shocked to see a Kryptonian pod, just like the one she arrived in on Earth, had crash landed right outside her apartment. But the episode ended before viewers could see what was in the pod, and after months of speculation, the Supergirl showrunners revealed at Comic-Con that newly cast Chris Wood (Containment) was playing who/what was in the pod. However, it wasn’t until a few weeks later that executive producer Andrew Kreisberg revealed that, “He is, in fact, playing Mon-El.”

The DC Comics character is best known for being a substitute for Superman, since he is a hero with almost identical abilities aside from one difference: Superman’s weakness is Kryptonite while Mon-El’s is lead. In the comics, Mon-El aka Lar Gand is from Daxam, a planet home to Kryptonian colonist descendants the Daxamites, but he journeyed to Krypton, where Jor-El warned him that the planet was about to be destroyed. He gave Lar a map to Earth so he could escape to safety, but when he landed on Earth he suffered from amnesia and couldn’t remember any of his past or even his own name. When Supergirl picks up in season two, Mon-El is still asleep, and being held inside the DEO until they can figure out how to wake him, where he’s from or what he is. 

Trouble in paradise

The season one finale finally saw a real kiss shared by Kara and James (Mehcad Brooks), but don’t assume that things will be smooth sailing for this new couple going into season two. In fact, don’t even assume that they are, in fact, a couple at all. 

“Of course we want Kara to explore her whole self and that includes romance,” executive producer Ali Adler says. “But this show isn’t necessarily about will they or won’t they or are they or aren’t they. But coming together, we are incumbent to explore that dynamic for her at the top of the season. Can an alien and a human be together? We must explore that physiologically and also emotionally. When you’re the person willing to risk yourself to save the world, it’s not necessarily an easy relationship to have from either perspective. We’ll definitely explore that.”

What about Winn?

Kara’s best friend Winn (Jeremy Jordan) went through so many ups and downs last season, from finding out Kara’s true identity to getting rejected by her romantically, so what’s in store for him this season? For one thing, a major career change. Winn is going to trade in his CatCo badge for a DEO, making his hobby as Supergirl’s tech support his full-blown day job. And that’s not the only career change happening this season, as Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart) forces Kara to take a hard look at herself and figure out what she wants to do with the rest of her life. She can’t fetch coffee for Cat forever, and expect Kara to find inspiration in the unlikeliest of places.

Speaking of Cat …

As for Flockhart, the show’s move from Los Angeles to Vancouver means Cat won’t be around as much in season two, as the actress wants to remain local. The former series regular is now a recurring guest star and will only appear in multiple episodes this season. 

“Supergirl wouldn’t be Supergirl without the amazing Calista Flockhart as Cat Grant,” Kreisberg says. “We are so excited Calista has agreed to continue on the show when she can. We and the audience love to see her onscreen.”

Her reduced role and the reason for Cat’s absence will begin to be explained in the season premiere.

The biggest crossover yet

Executive producer Greg Berlanti has made crossovers between his shows an annual event, and the one planned for this year is going to be his biggest endeavor yet. A four-way crossover between Supergirl, Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow is slated for this fall, around the time that midseason finales will air. And the villains that all the DC Comics superheroes will find themselves teaming up to battle are the fictional alien race The Dominators.

“We’re taking inspiration from a DC crossover from the late 1980s known as Invasion! which featured an alien race called The Dominators, who’d previously vexed the Legion of Superheroes,” Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow executive producer Marc Guggenheim says. “We’re using cutting-edge prosthetics and computer effects to achieve a feature film-quality look which is faithful to Invasion! artist Todd McFarlane’s interpretation of the characters.”

Getting musical

But another crossover is also being planned between Supergirl and The Flash, and this time around, Berlanti is leaning into his casts’ musical abilities. Glee grads Benoist and Grant Gustin will get to show off their singing chops when the two series team for a pair of musical episodes this fall. 

New faces

Supergirl is expanding its cast going into season two with some iconic roles and iconic actors. Floriana Lima (The Family) joins as a series regular in the role of Maggie Sawyer, a gay DC Comics character. Maggie, one of the first openly homosexual characters in mainstream comics, is a detective for the National City Police Department who takes a special interest in the cases involving aliens.

And Lynda Carter, the actress who brought the Amazonian superheroine Wonder Woman to life on the small screen, has booked a recurring role as the President of the United States. Berlanti and the other producers had hoped to cast Carter back in season one but her schedule did not work out. Their dream was to get her for season two as the president, and this time, the timing did work out.

Supergirl airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on The CW.