The Girl of Steel will have some major challenges ahead in her final season.
As Supergirl prepares for its sixth and final season premiere on March 30, showrunner Jessica Queller shares some of the dramatic turns Kara Danvers’ life will be taking before the final episode.
Solving the cliffhanger
Like many CW shows, Supergirl was unprepared for the coronavirus pandemic to cause an industry-wide shutdown. Thus, the nineteenth episode of Season 5 had to be reconfigured to become a season finale.
Ironically, the series had already been slated not to return until early 2021 due to Melissa Benoist’s real-life pregnancy (the actress gave birth in September 2020). Still, fans are eager to see a conclusion.
As the season left off, the team had just barely managed to stop Levithian leader Gamenmae (Cara Buono) from unleashing destruction upon Earth. But Brainy was trapped onboard Levithian’s spaceship just as it was about to explode.
The synopsis for the upcoming season premiere is basically what the season five finale would have been. After facing Levithian, the Superfriends have to stop Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer) who is using the old Myriad technology to brainwash half the people of Earth into worshipping him no matter what.
Kara’s challenge
While it seems a safe bet the heroes save the day, Queller states it will require a major sacrifice from Kara.
“She is going to really sacrifice her life and put her life on the line to save her friends and humanity. That challenge, she’s going to face her mortality in a way we’ve never done on the show. That’s really the focus of the first run of seven episodes. It’s life or death stakes for Kara, and it’s very introspective. So, all of the soul searching and taking stock of the past six years will happen in the beginning, and then she’ll put it all into play in the second half.”
A possibility is that during the battle, Kara loses some or perhaps even all of her superpowers and has to adjust to being more “human.” It can also be her making a difficult choice on Lex’s final fate that tests her moral code.
At least Kara will still have the support of sister Alex (Chyler Leigh), who may pick a code name for her new superhero identity. Also, Kara and Lena (Katie McGrath) have finally mended their friendship with Lena ready to step up as a key member of her support staff.
“Lena is going to become a more integral part of the Superfriends this season than ever before,” says Queller. “So I think that’s going to be really satisfying and have emotional resonance for her because she’s always kind of felt like an outsider, not just with Kara’s secret but with the whole group. Now she is going to be a full-on insider, so that will change the dynamic for Lena and the group.”
No more DEO
Another big change is that the DEO is no more. Not only was their headquarters destroyed by Levithian, but given Lex owns the organization, it will naturally suffer when he’s finally defeated.
This means the Superfriends must now adjust to saving the day without the government’s oversight or support, which will change their methods and perhaps views on what to do.
“The theme that we really decided to focus on this year is about power, and the abuse of power, and the limits of powers, and from without and within. So including not just our bad guys, which is very easy, but in terms of our heroes making decisions [because] their power is almost limitless. How [do] they decide where the line is?”
The series is no stranger to addressing real-life social issues in its storylines so it’s natural to play on current events involving excessive force and the team being called out for taking the law into their own hands.
Cat Grant’s return
With this being the final season, fans are hopeful for the long-awaited return of Cat Grant. The feisty media mogul was a highlight of the show’s first season on CBS, filmed in Los Angeles.
When the series moved to The CW, Calista Flockhart decided not to follow the production to Vancouver, and Cat made only a few sporadic appearances in Season 2.
While no word on Flockhart appearing, Episodes 5 & 6 (“Prom Night” and “Prom Again”) will be heavy on flashbacks of Kara and Alex in their teenage years. It will also feature Eliza Helm as Cat’s younger persona, CJ showing her beginnings as a rookie reporter.
Also, Jason Behr and Claude Knowlton have been cast in-so-far mysterious roles. Behr (best known for the WB’s Roswell) plays “a famous Kryptonian” who helps Kara, while Knowlton is a “mild-mannered alien” who aids the team.
While details on further episodes are tight, it appears Supergirl is ready to end her series run on a great high to please the fans.
Supergirl Season 6 premieres on the CW March 30.