Glee's Melissa Benoist to star in Supergirl TV series

 

Given the success of shows like "Arrow" and "The Flash" on the CW, as well as a strong numbers for "Gotham" on FOX, it was hardly surprising when CBS expressed a full series commitment for "Supergirl" last September. This week we received official confirmation on who will be playing the other last survivor of Krypton: Melissa Benoist.

 

Benoist is best known for her portrayal of sweet wallflower Marley Rose on the long-running musical drama "Glee." On "Supergirl," Benoist will be playing Kara Danvers, born on Krypton as Kara Zor-El, but raised on Earth by her foster family to be careful with her extraordinary powers.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, "Kara feels un-empowered, a slave to having repressed her innate abilities" but "an unexpected disaster forces her to use her powers in public."

 

"Supergirl" will mark Benoist's first leading role on screen. Before "Glee" the 26-year-old actress made her film debut in the 2008 Mariah Carey film, Tennessee. Benoist has also appeared in episodes of "Blue Bloods", "Law & Order: SVU", "The Good Wife", and "Homeland." She also has a supporting role in the critically acclaimed indie film "Whiplash," which received top awards at the Sundance Film Festival last year. According to Deadline, Benoist beat actresses such as Claire Holt ("The Vampire Diaries")and Elizabeth Lail ("Once Upon A Time") for the role.

 

Benoist will be joined by Mehcad Brooks as James "Jimmy" Olsen, a photographer for CatCo, a media conglomerate where Kara works as assistant to CEO Cat Grant (yet to be cast). Brooks was a series regular on "Necessary Roughness," which ran for three seasons on the USA Network. Other characters that have yet to be cast include Kara's foster sister Alexandra Danvers, CIA operative Hank Henshaw and next-door neighbor Winslow Schott.

 

Several changes to the character's mythos are expected to be made for the show. In the comics, Kara is a teenager who is schooled on how to live on Earth by her adult cousin Superman. It's suggested by source such as DC All Access and IGN that Kara will follow a more conventional superhero path: using her powers in public, crafting a costume and establishing a dual identity. It's a very predictable story arc, but meaningfully different from the one that Supergirl fans know well. More likely it's a deliberate decision made to exclude Superman from Kara's backstory for many possible (and likely good) reasons.

 

 

Supergirl's best known live action outing is the 1984 film starring Helen Stater. The TV series is being developed at Warner Brothers Television by superproducer Greg Berlanti ("The Flash," and "Arrow") with Allison Adler, a producer on "Glee" who also worked alongside Berlanti on the short-lived superpowered dramedy series "No Ordinary Family" in 2010. The series will CBS' first play into the ongoing superhero TV craze. Sarah Schechter, president of Berlanti Productions will be supervising. 

 

Berlanti told Variety that as far as female superheroes are concerned, "we're well past due for those kinds of characters in film and TV." This despite the fact that the CW passed on "Amazon," a Wonder Woman origins show from producers of "The O.C." and "Heroes," though the consensus is that such a show conflicted with plans for the upcoming film, "Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice." 

 

Regardless, when "Supergirl" premieres later this year, it is expected to join the ranks of other female-led comic book properties, such as Marvel's "Jessica Jones" on Netflix and DC Vertigo's "iZombie" on the CW. — TJD, GMA News