Mr. Mxyzptlk is coming back to Supergirl…and he has a friend.
Not only will Thomas Patrick Lennon reprise his role as the other-dimensional imp on the CW series but Peta Sergeant will join as a new regular character with her own tricks.
Who is Mxyzptlk?
Debuting in 1944, Mr. Mxyzptlk (“Mxy” for short), is an immortal resident from the 5th dimension, whose main goal in life is driving Superman nuts.
Mxy can do almost anything with his magical abilities from turning people into animals to bringing buildings to life.
He amuses himself by focusing on Superman, enjoying needling the Man of Steel, which invariably causes chaos whenever he comes to Metropolis. While not evil, Mxy’s mischievous side and inability to understand humans always creates trouble.
The only way to stop Mxy is to trick him into saying his name backward, which undoes his magic and banishes Mxy back to the 5th Dimension for at least 90 days.
The character has appeared in just about every form of Superman media, from cartoons to the 1990s Lois & Clark series (where Howie Mandel played him) to the WB Smallville series.
Mxy on Supergirl
Mxyzptlk first appeared on Supergirl in Season 2, played by Peter Gadiot as a dashingly handsome man (complete with a British accent) who claimed to be in love with Kara.
He went about trying to woo her in various ways before she finally tricked him into invoking his backward name to get rid of him, telling Mxy off on how this was not love.
In the 100th episode of the show, Mxy returned, now played by Thomas Patrick Lennon. He confessed his earlier form had all been a glamour to win over Kara (“oh, I miss that hair”) and is now closer to the comics’ quirky imp.
Ordered by a “cosmic court” to atone for his antics, Mxy aided Kara by showing alternate universes where Kara had revealed her secret identity to Lena, only for every one to end in tragedy, convincing Kara to move on in the present.
The new imp
Lennon had already teased the return of Mxy on his social media. It now appears he won’t be the only imp around.
The second episode of Season 6 has Kara (Melissa Benoist) trapped in the Phantom Zone, an other-dimensional prison for Kryptonian criminals. She’s shocked to discover her father, Zor (Jason Behr), who she assumed died with the rest of Krypton, is alive in this dimension.
Meanwhile, the Superfriends discovered that in the wake of Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Phantom Zone has been splintered into countless other-dimensional realms, making finding Kara more difficult.
Sergeant (most recently seen in the FX drama Snowfall) plays Nyxly, who is described as “a quirky and kind 5th Dimensional Imp, wrongly imprisoned in the Phantom Zone and driven by tragic backstory. She helps Kara when she least expects it, and their budding friendship not only heals some of Nyxly’s emotional pain, but helps Nyxly reclaim her own power.”
Originally, Kara’s exile into the Phantom Zone was going to be the season 5 cliffhanger to give Benoist time off for her real-life pregnancy. The shutdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic altered that for the season six premiere and expanded the storyline.
Being added as a regular indicates Nyxly follows Kara to Earth where she’ll no doubt get into some fun antics. It’s also logical Mxy pops in to try to aid his fellow 5th Dimension exile.
Even though it’s the final season, Supergirl still has plenty of magic left.
Supergirl airs Sundays at 8 pm ET on the CW.