Over its past two seasons, Supergirl has welcomed various actors who’ve previously appeared in Superman or Supergirl related productions. Lois & Clark‘s Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher have both turned up, as has 1984’s Supergirl star Helen Slater. Another is Laura Vandervoort, who played Supergirl on Smallville. Now, one of Vandervoort’s co-stars on the show has landed a part on the upcoming third season of The CW DC series.
Erica Durance, most well known for starring as Lois Lane opposite Tom Welling’s Clark Kent on the Superman prequel, has landed the part of Kara Danver’s Kryptonian mother Alura. The character was previously played by Laura Benanti in a major recurring role across season 1 (plus a brief cameo in season 2). As Benanti proved unavailable this time around, the Supergirl team took the opportunity to bring on board another “legacy” actress.
Exec producer Andrew Kreisberg had this to say on Durance’s casting:
“Unfortunately Laura, who Greg [Berlanti] and I have worked with for years going back to Eli Stone, was unable to continue in the role due to work commitments in New York. But we are so blessed that Erica has come aboard to offer her own interpretation of Kara’s mother. We had tremendous success with a former Lois Lane last season with Teri Hatcher. We know Erica will continue the proud tradition of legacy actors joining our shows and creating new and exciting takes on classic DC characters.”
Another connection between Smallville and the Arrowverse occurred recently as well. That show’s Green Arrow Justin Hartley went on Twitter to compliment his successor Stephen Amell‘s take on the part in Arrow. Maybe he could join Vandervoort and Durance and make an appearance in the universe, too? And, while they’re at it, why not get Michael Rosenbaum back as Lex Luthor?
Supergirl season 3 premieres on Monday, October 9th.