In what amounts to a news story we all saw coming, CBS has officially given Supergirl a series order. The show – developed and written by Arrow and The Flash showrunners Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg, along with Chuck and No Ordinary Family alum Ali Adler – went into development last fall and was given a series commitment shortly thereafter.
The show stars Glee alum Melissa Benoist as Kara Zor-El, who escaped Krypton’s destruction and has been in hiding on Earth and keeping her powers a secret ever since. The series will pick up when Kara is 24 years old and ready to “embrace her superhuman abilities and be the hero she was always meant to be.” Her famous cousin, Superman, is expected to show up in a small capacity, but the Supergirl will mainly focus on Kara’s solo adventures and coming-of-age journey into heroism.
Joining Benoist are True Blood‘s Mehcad Brooks as Jimmy Olsen, Ally McBeal star Calista Flockhart as their boss Cat Grant, Grey’s Anatomy actress Chyler Leigh as Kara’s foster sister, Alexandra Danvers, Smash‘s Jeremy Jordan as Winslow Schott a.k.a Toyman, Owain Yeoman (The Mentalist) as supervillain Vartox, David Harewood (Homeland) as Hank Henshaw, and former Kryptonians Dean Cain and Helen Slater (Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and 1984’s Supergirl, respectively) as Kara’s foster parents.
As someone who is very much looking forward to the show, I couldn’t be more excited about the fact that it’s been picked up to series, and I’m confident that the talent behind it can deliver a fun superhero show akin to something like The Flash. Where exactly CBS plans to let Supergirl reside in its upcoming schedule remains to be seen, but that will likely be announced next week during the television upfronts.