The fifth season of the American television series ''
Supergirl'', which is based on the
DC Comics character
Kara Zor-El / Supergirl, premiered on
The CW on October 6, 2019, and consisted of 19 episodes. It is set in the
Arrowverse, sharing continuity with the other television series of the franchise. The season is produced by
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 ...
,
Warner Bros. Television, and
DC Entertainment
DC Entertainment is an American entertainment company that was founded in September 2009 and was based in Burbank, California. The company is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery that manages its DC Comics units and characters in other units, ...
.
The season was ordered in January 2019, and was originally planned to have 22 episodes, later brought down to 20. Filming began that June, and production was shut down in March 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, leaving the season with only 19 episodes.
Melissa Benoist stars as
Kara, with 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 ...
,
Katie McGrath,
Jesse Rath,
Nicole Maines, and
David Harewood also returning from previous seasons. They are joined by
Azie Tesfai
Azie Tesfai is an American actress. She is known for her television roles, including ''Jane the Virgin'' and ''Supergirl''.
Early life and education
Tesfai was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Eritrean immigrants who g ...
and
Andrea Brooks
Andrea K. Brooks (born March 3, 1989) is a Canadian actress and model best known for portraying Faith Carter on the Hallmark series ''When Calls the Heart'' and Eve Teschmacher in The CW series ''Supergirl''.
Early life
Born in Brantford, Ont ...
, who were promoted to the main cast from recurring status in the fourth season,
LaMonica Garrett, who previously appeared as a guest actor in the fifth annual Arrowverse crossover and the fifth season, and new cast members
Julie Gonzalo and
Staz Nair
Staz Nair is a British actor and singer. He is known for his roles on the TV series ''Game of Thrones'' and ''Supergirl''.
Life and career
Nair is of Malayali and Russian descent. He was a part of the band Times Red. The band were contestants ...
. Former series regulars
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 ...
,
Chris Wood,
Odette Annable
Odette Juliette Annable (; born May 10, 1985) is an American actress. She is known for various roles in film and television, including as Dr. Jessica Adams in the Fox medical drama series ''House'', Beth McIntyre in the monster film ''Cloverfie ...
, and
Sam Witwer return for the series' 100th episode.
Episodes
Cast and characters
Main
*
Melissa Benoist as
Kara Danvers / Kara Zor-El / Supergirl
*
Mehcad Brooks as
James Olsen / Guardian
*
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 ...
as
Alex Danvers
*
Katie McGrath as
Lena Luthor
*
Jesse Rath as
Querl "Brainy" Dox / Brainiac 5
*
Nicole Maines as
Nia Nal / Dreamer
*
Azie Tesfai
Azie Tesfai is an American actress. She is known for her television roles, including ''Jane the Virgin'' and ''Supergirl''.
Early life and education
Tesfai was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Eritrean immigrants who g ...
as
Kelly Olsen
*
Andrea Brooks
Andrea K. Brooks (born March 3, 1989) is a Canadian actress and model best known for portraying Faith Carter on the Hallmark series ''When Calls the Heart'' and Eve Teschmacher in The CW series ''Supergirl''.
Early life
Born in Brantford, Ont ...
as
Eve Teschmacher / Hope
*
Julie Gonzalo as
Andrea Rojas / Acrata
*
Staz Nair
Staz Nair is a British actor and singer. He is known for his roles on the TV series ''Game of Thrones'' and ''Supergirl''.
Life and career
Nair is of Malayali and Russian descent. He was a part of the band Times Red. The band were contestants ...
as
William Dey
William Ernest Dey (June 4, 1870 – August 20, 1921) was an early amateur ice hockey player for the Ottawa Hockey Club. He was a member of the Dey family of Ottawa, Canada which was successful in boat-building, arenas and ice hockey businesses. H ...
*
LaMonica Garrett as
Mar Novu / Monitor
*
David Harewood as
J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter and
Hank Henshaw
Recurring
*
Jon Cryer as
Lex Luthor
*
Phil LaMarr as
Malefic J'onzz
Ma'alefa'ak (also known as Malefic and Malefic Jones) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, usually depicted as the archenemy of his twin brother, the superhero Martian Manhunter. Created by writer John Ostr ...
* Nick Sagar as Russell Rogers / Rip Roar
* Patti Allan as Margot Morrison
* Duncan Fraser as an elderly male Leviathan representative
*
Cara Buono as
Gamemnae / Gemma Cooper
*
Mitch Pileggi as
Rama Khan
Rama Khan is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He first appeared in ''JLA'' #62 and was created by Joe Kelly and Doug Mahnke.
Fictional character biography
Rama Khan's earliest appearance is 1,004 BC, ...
*
Brenda Strong as
Lillian Luthor
Guest
"Crisis on Infinite Earths"
Production
Development
On January 31, 2019,
The CW renewed ''Supergirl'' for a fifth season.
Jessica Queller
Jessica may refer to:
Given name
* Jessica (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters with this name
* Jessica Folcker, a Swedish singer known by the mononym Jessica
* Jessica Jung, a Korean-American singer known by the m ...
and
Robert Rovner
Robert Rovner is an American television producer and writer, best known for his work on TV shows Crossing Jordan, Private Practice, Dallas (2012 TV series), Bionic Woman, Summerland, American Dreams (NBC) and Supergirl (TV series). He is cur ...
serve as the season's showrunners.
Writing
Queller described the fifth season of ''Supergirl'' as the series' "''
Black Mirror'' season", with Rovner elaborating that "What we’re looking at is how technology is impacting the way people engage and giving them an escape not to engage. It seems like nowadays, everyone is kind of on their phones or not really present, and so we wanted to speak to that and kind of how it might be hard to live in the ugliness of what's going on, and how a character like Kara can try and help us overcome that."
Melissa Benoist, who stars as
Kara Danvers / Supergirl, said the season would be "a fight for
Lena Luthor's">Lena_Luthor_(Arrowverse).html" ;"title="nowiki/>Lena Luthor (Arrowverse)">Lena Luthor'ssoul", following
Lex Luthor exposing to Lena that Kara, her best friend, is Supergirl. Rovner said the rift between Kara and Lena was something the writers had been building towards for a number of years, with the fifth season serving as the "long-awaited payoff". Queller described "betrayal" as Lena's
Achilles heel due to every member of the Luthor family having betrayed her in some way over the years: "She has to put on this protective shell, and the last person she thought would betray her was Kara, and that really hurts more deeply than any of the others".
Casting
Main cast members Melissa Benoist,
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 ...
,
Katie McGrath,
Jesse Rath,
Nicole Maines and
David Harewood return as Kara Danvers / Supergirl,
James Olsen,
Alex Danvers, Lena Luthor,
Querl Dox / Brainiac 5,
Nia Nal / Dreamer, and J'onn J'onzz (Arrowverse)">J'onn J'onzz
The Martian Manhunter (J'onn J'onzz) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Joseph Samachson and designed by artist Joe Certa, the character first appeared in the story "The Manhunter from Mars" ...
respectively.
This is Brooks' final season; his last appearance was in the episode "In Plain Sight".
Azie Tesfai
Azie Tesfai is an American actress. She is known for her television roles, including ''Jane the Virgin'' and ''Supergirl''.
Early life and education
Tesfai was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Eritrean immigrants who g ...
, who was introduced as
Kelly Olsen in the fourth season, was promoted to the main cast for the fifth season, as was
Andrea Brooks
Andrea K. Brooks (born March 3, 1989) is a Canadian actress and model best known for portraying Faith Carter on the Hallmark series ''When Calls the Heart'' and Eve Teschmacher in The CW series ''Supergirl''.
Early life
Born in Brantford, Ont ...
, who recurred as
Eve Teschmacher
Eve Teschmacher is the name of multiple fictional characters appearing in DC Comics–related media. The character was portrayed by Valerie Perrine in the Christopher Reeve Superman films and by Andrea Brooks in the Arrowverse series ''Supergi ...
since the second season. They are joined by new cast members
, an original creation for the series.
, who starred as Winn Schott in the first three seasons and was absent during the fourth, returned as a guest star for three episodes.
The female Brainiac 5 was played by Meaghan Rath, the real-life sister of Brainiac 5 portrayer Jesse Rath, at his suggestion.
The season introduces a new Supergirl suit which eschews the skirt seen in the older suit in favour of a full pant. Benoist and the showrunners said giving Supergirl pants was something they discussed since the first season.
Brainy is credited with creating a new microscopic motion-activator for the new suit that attaches to Kara's glasses, activating her suit's appearance when she removes them.
. The seventeenth episode of the season marks Benoist's directorial debut.
Filming was expected to last until April 14, 2020.
On March 12, 2020, Warner Bros. Television shut down production on the series due to the
with the series in the middle of shooting episode 20. Leigh stated she had two more days of filming on the episode. As a result, some of the material shot for episode 20 was incorporated into episode 19, rather than saving it for season six. Some new dialogue was also recorded by actors in their homes for episode 19.
. The crossover took place over five episodes–three (including the ''Supergirl'' episode) in December 2019 and two in January 2020.
The season began airing in the United States on The CW on October 6, 2019.
It was originally set to run for 22 episodes, later brought down to 20. As production on episode 20 could not be completed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 19th episode served as the season finale.
, the season holds an approval rating of 92% based on 8 reviews, with an average rating of 7.62/10.