It's been an exciting few weeks for fans of Supergirl, DC's problematic yet consistently promising series. The series announced recently that it will be moving to The CW full time, putting it under the same hot lamps as The Flash and Arrow, as well as Legends of Tomorrow. It's a smart move by the parent companies of the channel, WB and CBS, and might very well streamline a series that is in dire need of focus.
That being said, the casting calls that the show has been giving out suggest major upheavals in the story that are at once exhilarating in suggesting the show's outsized ambitions and troubling in what these decisions say about the narrative's focus. Recently, we learned that the show will indeed be casting Superman, which will almost certainly give the series a big push with fans and in the ratings. And today, in a spoiler-ish announcement from TVLine, we're learning that season 2 of the show will bring in Lena Luthor, the younger sister of Lex Luthor, as well as four other major characters who will have their place in the season's storyline.
One would likely assume that Lena, who will be 25-35 years old, will serve as a new villain for our Kara (Melissa Benoist), but this show has a way of subverting the expected in both thrilling and exhausting ways. Beyond that, the show is casting Nick Farrow, a brash leading man type that wants to make his way in the world of journalism; The Doctor, the duplicitous, female leader of Project Cadmus; Maggie, an openly gay cop who hones her talents with the Science Police, a force set-up to track alien technology and metahumans.
And finally, the series is looking for someone to play Snapper Carr, a veteran journalist who helps Calista Flockhart's Cat remake her news division. That's a lot of story suggested in between five new characters, not including the Man of Steel, but like Arrow and The Flash, the series might actually benefit of going full-hog on story and getting overtly convoluted. Neither Arrow or The Flash make a lick of sense, but that's kind of their charm, the rampant lunacy and sense of invention that they exude. Supergirl could benefit hugely from a similar sense of wonder over personal or even thoughtful storytelling.
