The first season of the American television series '' Supergirl'', which is based on the DC Comics character Supergirl / Kara Zor-El, a costumed superheroine who is the cousin to

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

and one of the last surviving

Kryptonian Kryptonians are a fictional extraterrestrial race within the DC Comics universe that originated on the planet Krypton. The term originated from the stories of DC Comics superhero, Superman. The stories also use "Kryptonian" as an adjective to re ...

s. ''Supergirl'' was ordered to series in May 2015, and later picked up for a full season in November 2015, with filming taking place primarily in Los Angeles. Melissa Benoist stars in the titular role, and is joined by principal cast members Mehcad Brooks,

Chyler Leigh Chyler Leigh West (pronounced ; '' née'' Potts), known professionally as Chyler Leigh, is an American actress, singer and model. She is known for portraying Janey Briggs in the comedy film ''Not Another Teen Movie'' (2001), Lexie Grey in the ...

Jeremy Jordan Jeremy Jordan may refer to: * Jeremy Jordan (actor, born 1984), American actor and singer, notable for being an actor and Broadway performer * Jeremy Jordan (singer, born 1973) Don Henson (born September 19, 1973), known professionally as Jerem ...

, David Harewood, and

Calista Flockhart Calista Kay Flockhart (born November 11, 1964) is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for portraying the title character on the Fox television series '' Ally McBeal'' (1997–2002), for which she received a Golden Globe Award in 1998 ...

. The

series premiere A series premiere is the first aired installment of an episodic entertainment series, most often a television series. In the United States, many series premieres are aired in the fall time or, for mid-season replacements, either in the spring or ...

was watched by 12.96 million viewers, tied with NBC's '' Blindspot'' as the top-rated series premiere of the 2015–16 fall season. The season, which premiered on CBS on October 26, 2015, and ran until April 18, 2016, over 20 episodes, overall received positive reviews. The series was renewed for a second season on May 12, 2016, and moved to The CW.

Episodes

Cast and characters

Main

* Melissa Benoist as Kara Zor-El / Kara Danvers / Supergirl * Mehcad Brooks as James Olsen *

as Alex Danvers *

as Winslow "Winn" Schott, Jr. * David Harewood as J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter and Hank Henshaw *

as Cat Grant

Recurring

Laura Benanti Laura Ilene Benanti (née Vidnovic; born July 13, 1979) is an American actress and singer. Over the course of her Broadway career, she has received five Tony Award nominations. She played Louise in the 2008 Broadway revival of '' Gypsy'', winni ...

as Astra In-Ze and

Alura Zor-El Alura In-Ze is a fictional character, fictional comic book character appearing in publications by DC Comics, usually those featuring Superman and related characters. Alura is the Kryptonian daughter of In-Zee, wife of Zor-El, mother of Supergirl ...

Dean Cain Dean George Cain ( Tanaka; born July 31, 1966) is an American actor. From 1993 to 1997, he played Clark Kent / Superman in the TV series '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman''. Cain was the host of ''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' and ...

Jeremiah Danvers ''Supergirl (TV series), Supergirl'' is an American television series developed by Greg Berlanti, Ali Adler, and Andrew Kreisberg based on the characters created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in the Superman (franchise), Superman franchise and ...

Jenna Dewan-Tatum Jenna Lee Dewan (; born December 3, 1980) is an American actress and dancer. She started her career as a backup dancer for Janet Jackson, and later worked with artists including Christina Aguilera, Pink (singer), Pink, and Missy Elliott. She is ...

as Lucy Lane *

Peter Facinelli Peter Facinelli (born November 26, 1973) is an American actor and film and television producer. He starred as Donovan "Van" Ray on the Fox series '' Fastlane'' from 2002 to 2003. He played Dr. Carlisle Cullen in the film adaptations of the ''Tw ...

Maxwell Lord Maxwell Lord IV is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in ''Justice League'' #1 (May 1987) and was created by Keith Giffen, J. M. DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire (artist), Kevin Magui ...

Brit Morgan Brittany Morgan Dengler (born September 24, 1987) is an American actress. Early life Morgan was born and raised in the Marlton section of Evesham Township, New Jersey, where she was a 2005 graduate of Cherokee High School. Career Morgan's fi ...

as Leslie Willis / Livewire * Glenn Morshower as Sam Lane *

Italia Ricci Stephanie Italia Ricci (; born October 29, 1986) is a Canadian-American actress. She's known for starring as April Carver in the 2014–2015 ABC Family television series ''Chasing Life'', and for playing White House Chief of Staff and Special A ...

as Siobhan Smythe / Silver Banshee * Helen Slater as

Eliza Danvers ''Supergirl'' is an American television series developed by Greg Berlanti, Ali Adler, and Andrew Kreisberg based on the characters created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in the Superman franchise and Al Plastino and Otto Binder's character Sup ...

* Chris Vance as

Non Non, non or NON can refer to: * ''Non'', a negatory word in French, Italian and Latin People *Non (given name) *Non Boonjumnong (born 1982), Thai amateur boxer * Rena Nōnen (born 1993), Japanese actress who uses the stage name "Non" since July ...

* Laura Vandervoort as Indigo *

Briana Venskus Briana Venskus-Vazquez (born August 19, 1987) is an American actress. Daughter of John Venskus and Josephine Vazquez. She is best known for her roles as Agent Susan Vasquez on The CW series ''Supergirl'' (2015–2017), Beatrice on the AMC series ' ...

as Vasquez

Guest

The hosts of '' The Talk'', Sara Gilbert,

Julie Chen Julie may refer to: * Julie (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the name Film and television * ''Julie'' (1956 film), an American film noir starring Doris Day * ''Julie'' (1975 film), a Hindi film by K. S. Sethumadhava ...

Sharon Osbourne Sharon Rachel Osbourne (née Levy, later Arden; born 9 October 1952) is a British-American television personality, music manager and author. She is married to heavy metal singer-songwriter Ozzy Osbourne and came to prominence while appearing ...

, Aisha Tyler and Sheryl Underwood, cameo as themselves.

Production

Development

By September 2014, Warner Bros. Television was looking to create a television series centered around Kara Zor-El / Supergirl. Executive producers for the series include Greg Berlanti (also a creator/producer for ''

Arrow An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...

'' and ''

The Flash The Flash (or simply Flash) is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date ...

''), Ali Adler, who were both writing the script, and

Berlanti Productions Berlanti Productions is an American film and television production company founded by screenwriter, producer and filmmaker Greg Berlanti and producer Mickey Liddell. History The company was founded in 2000 as Berlanti-Liddell Productions by ...

' Sarah Schechter. DC Comics' Geoff Johns was also expected to be part of the project. Titles under consideration for the series included ''Super'' and ''Girl''. Berlanti confirmed the show shortly after, and stated it was in development and had yet to be pitched to networks. On September 20, it was announced that CBS had landed ''Supergirl'' with a series commitment, with an expected premiere in 2015 of the 2015–16 television season. The show was officially picked up to series on May 6, 2015. On November 30, 2015, CBS ordered an additional seven episodes of ''Supergirl'', for a full season of 20 episodes.

Writing

In January 2015, CBS Entertainment chairwoman

Nina Tassler Nina Tassler is an American television executive and producer. She was most recently the chairwoman of CBS Entertainment until 2015. Life and career Tassler was born in New York City to a Jewish father and a Puerto Rican mother who converted t ...

revealed the show would be a procedural, saying, "There will be rimecases, but what xecutive producersAli Adler and Greg Berlanti pitched was a real series arc for her. The beauty of it is now with shows like '' The Good Wife'' and '' Madam Secretary'', you can have serialized story elements woven into a case of the week. She's a crime solver, so she's going to have to solve a crime." In July 2015, Adler spoke on how much influence

would have on the show, saying, "Our prototype is the way the president is seen on ''

Veep ''Veep'' is an American political satire comedy television series that aired on HBO from April 22, 2012, to May 12, 2019. The series was created by Armando Iannucci as an adaptation of his sitcom ''The Thick of It''. The protagonist of ''Veep'' ...

''. It's certainly nspired byso much of what Julia Louis-Dreyfus' character goes through. Ultimately, this is a show about Supergirl and we really want to see it through her lens."

Casting

For the role of Kara Zor-El / Supergirl, the producers wanted a Caucasian actress aged between 22 and 26 years. In January 2015, it was announced by '' The Hollywood Reporter'' that Melissa Benoist would star as the character. Benoist later revealed that auditioning for the part "was a long, drawn-out, three-month process"; she was the first actress looked at for the role, although Claire Holt and Gemma Atkinson were also considered. In the same month, Mehcad Brooks was cast as James Olsen, based on the character

Jimmy Olsen Jimmy Olsen is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Olsen is most often portrayed as a young photojournalist working for the ''Daily Planet''. He is close friends with Lois Lane and Clark Kent, and has ...

. Unlike the comics, where the same character is portrayed as a Caucasian and goes by "Jimmy", this version is African-American and goes by "James". Brooks described this as a form of " intermixing of races", differing from the 1940s where "white things were white, black things were black. Latino things were Latino". In February,

was cast as Alex Danvers, an original creation for the series. In the same month, David Harewood and

were cast as Hank Henshaw and Cat Grant, respectively. It was eventually revealed that Harewood's character was actually J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter impersonating Henshaw. In March,

was cast as Winslow "Winn" Schott. The character was written for the series as the son of Winslow Schott / Toyman, unlike the comics where Toyman's son is Anton Schott.

Filming

In February 2015, it was announced that Andrew Kreisberg, co-creator of ''Arrow'' and ''The Flash'', had joined the series as a writer and executive producer; and ''Arrow'' / ''The Flash'' and ''

Smallville ''Smallville'' is an American superhero television series developed by writer-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The series was produced by Millar Gough ...

'' alum

Glen Winter Glen Winter is a Canadian television director, cinematographer, and producer who is well known for his work on The WB/The CW's '' Smallville'' and for his significant contributions to the Arrowverse. Career Winter began his career as a filmlo ...

was announced to be directing the pilot. Principal photography for the pilot took place from March 4 to March 29, 2015. Filming locations included the Warner Bros. lot, where ''Lois and Clark'' was shot. Each episode cost approximately $3 million to broadcast, which is one of the highest license fees ever for a first year show. Filming wrapped in March 2016.

Music

The score for the season was composed by

Blake Neely Blake Neely (born April 28, 1969) is an Emmy Award-winning American composer, conductor, and orchestrator. He has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on ''Everwood'', '' The Pacific'', and ''Pan Am'', and won the Emmy (20 ...

Release

Broadcast

The season began airing on CBS on October 26, 2015, and ended on April 18, 2016. The season premiered on October 29, 2015, in the United Kingdom on

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

. The series premiered in Australia on December 6, 2015, on FOX8. In Canada, ''Supergirl'' aired in a sim-subbed simulcast on Global with the American broadcast in the season.

Home media

Reception

Ratings

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 92% approval rating with an average rating of 7.53/10 based on 71 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Melissa Benoist shines as Superman's plucky little cousin in ''Supergirl'', a family-friendly comic-book adaptation that ditches cynicism for heart." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 75 out of 100 based on 33 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Max Nicholson of ''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

'' gave the season a score of 7.3 out of 10, along with the verdict, "While Supergirl's first season disappointed in several key areas -- namely its villains and romantic subplots -- Supergirl herself was spot-on, and the story offered several surprising twists (e.g., Hank Henshaw as J'onn J'onzz). Yes, not all episodes were winners, but when the series flew, it soared, especially in terms of emotional impact." Reviewing the season as a whole, Colin Campbell of '' Polygon'' criticized the costumes, fight sequences, the ludicrous villains, the predictable nature of the plot, and felt that the title character was not "Super enough", but noted that "unless your interest is in seeing yet another comic-book franchise transferred reverently to the screen they're of only marginal concern." Evan Valentine of '' Collider'' ranked Supergirl eighth in his list of the worst and best superhero television series of 2015 and wrote, "Aside from presenting the best Supergirl we’ve seen in live action with Melissa Benoist ..it managed to capture a sense of fun among the cast that was infectious."

Accolades

, - ! scope="row" rowspan="1" , 2015 , Critics' Choice Television Awards , Most Exciting New Series , ''Supergirl'' , , , - ! scope="row" rowspan="7" , 2016 , People's Choice Awards , Favorite New TV Drama , ''Supergirl'' , , , - , Teen Choice Awards , Breakout Series , ''Supergirl'' , , , - , rowspan="5" , Saturn Awards , Best Actress on Television , Melissa Benoist , , , - , Best Guest Starring Role on Television ,

, , , - , Best Superhero Adaptation Television Series , ''Supergirl'' , , , - , Best Supporting Actress on Television ,

, , , - , Breakthrough Performance , Melissa Benoist , ,

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Arrowverse 2015 American television seasons 2016 American television seasons Supergirl (TV series) seasons