At San Diego Comic Con 2018, OMFGTV spoke to select talent from the CW’s hit superhero series “Supergirl” regarding the show’s upcoming fourth season, new character dynamics and how the existing characters will interact with new cast additions.
Kicking things off, Supergirl herself, Melissa Benoist, discussed season four tackling the “Red Son” storyline from the comic books revolving around a doppelgänger Supergirl. “It’s going to be a slow burn,” Benoist said. “The way that the ‘Red Son’ explored the differences between two doppelganger Supermen who were raised in two very different cultures with different ideals, I think that’s what we’re going to explore here. The whole nature vs. nurture and how people with such extraordinary abilities- how differently they would use them.”
Benoist also teased interactions between Kara and the show’s most buzz worthy new addition, Nicole Maines as transgender superhero, Dreamer/Nia Nal. “I’m really excited about Nia Nal,” Benoist said. “In more ways than one, not just because of the story she’ll be telling and what she’ll mean to people, but her relationship with Kara is really special in the scripts that I’ve seen. It almost purely exists at CatCo right now since Cat Grant is gone, Kara kind of steps in and acts as a mentor to her, which is something that we haven’t really seen Kara do.”
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With last season having dealt a major blow to the relationship between Lena Luthor and Supergirl, Benoist delved into her feelings on their relationship “That is such a complicated relationship. I’m excited to see how it fleshes out because in a lot of ways and in sad ways, it mirrors Clark Kent and Lex Luthor’s relationship. That’s such an important part of the mythology in the comics and it wouldn’t be Supergirl without that.”
Building off that, Katie McGrath, who plays Lena, spoke about the interesting difference between Kara and Lena’s feelings towards their relationship. “For Lena, she’s going into season four with her best friend still the same,” McGrath said. “Nothing has changed for her. Kara on the other hand, is like, ’Oh my God!’ But for Lena, nothing’s changed.”
McGrath also revealed, “She was never as close to Supergirl as she was with Kara. She respected Supergirl and she hugely admired her, but the fact that that relationship has been damaged doesn’t affect her day to day life as it does with Kara. I think she’ll still be working with Supergirl and still respects her, but she doesn’t trust her because when push came to shove, Supergirl didn’t trust her.”
McGrath addressed Lena’s professional mindset this season. “I think what you’re going to see from Lena this season is more confidence in her abilities. She saved the world last season. She didn’t get credit for it. Never does. With that behind her, she’s coming in knowing that she’s more capable than people give her credit for, so she’s inventing technologies that are for the good of the world, but like anything in the wrong hands, it could also be used for evil. That’s a theme that’s going to run through her storyline this year.”
Finally, Jesse Rath, who was recently upped to series regular, spoke of his character, Brainiac-5, and how he will interact with the normal world this season. “It’s a learning curve for him being in the past in a social sense,” Rath said, while admitting, “He butts heads with a lot of people. He’s kind of a dick.”
“The overall theme of the character is he’s too smart for his own good,” Rath said of Brainiac’s struggle. “He’s kind of like a walking spoiler alert. He’s there going, ‘what are you guys freaking out about? It’s all going to work out in the end.’ But what he’s going to come to learn is there’s a difference between knowing history and experiencing history.”
“Supergirl” returns for its fourth season on a new night, Sunday, October 14.