Tyler Hoechlin & Andrew Kreisberg sobre cuánto Supermán veremos, Lois Lane y más
Por Cristina Radish 17 Oct 2016
In the action-packed second episode of The CW series Supergirl, called “The Last Children of Krypton,” Cadmus attacks National City with a kryptonite powered villain who ends up seriously hurting Supergirl (Melissa Benoist). While she and Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) devise a plan that enables them to be stronger together, Kara’s first day at her new job doesn’t go as planned, with Snapper Carr (Ian Gomez) in charge.
Following a screening of the episode at the offices of The CW, actor Tyler Hoechlin and executive producer Andrew Kreisberg were on hand to talk about setting up the first half of the season and what’s to come. During the interview, they talked about never wanting Superman to overpower Supergirl on her own show, why this was the right time to bring on the Man of Steel, the effects of the transition from CBS to The CW, whether we might ever see Lois Lane, where James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks) fits in this season, Kara’s dynamic with her new boss, Mon-El (Chris Wood), the continued mystery of what’s happened to Jeremiah (Dean Cain), and how Supergirl fits in with the upcoming four show cross-over. Be aware that some spoilers are discussed.
Question: In Season 1, you talked about Superman, but didn’t show him. Now in Season 2, we get to see him, as opposed to just a silhouette. Can you talk about bringing him in to back up and build up Supergirl, but not take over?
ANDREW KREISBERG: We were very cognizant of not wanting him to come in and steal her thunder. The Superman that we designed was something that you really haven’t seen too much of. Usually, when you see Superman, whether it’s the Christopher Reeve movies, Man of Steel or Lois & Clark, he’s just starting out. We wanted to show a Superman who’s been doing this for a decade and has gotten really, really good at it. Usually, when somebody comes in, they have a massive character arc, and that wasn’t entirely the case here. He was coming in as a supporting character for Kara, and to be a friend, a cousin and a mentor. She’s always compared herself to him, but comes to realize, “I’ve got it all going on, too.” We simultaneously wanted to have a Superman that was relatable and fun and everything that you remember about Superman from your childhood while also demystifying him, a little bit. No matter how famous you are, there’s always somebody more famous than you. Yeah, she can fly and she’s famous, but there’s a familiarity with all the people that she works with. And then, Superman comes in and it’s like Mick Jagger just flew in and everybody’s jaws drop, but she’s completely over it. That’s really the angle that we came at it from.
TYLER HOECHLIN: That word “support” is the strongest one that I’ve tried to lean on. This is not his origin story. This is someone who’s been doing this for a long time and has become very comfortable. The game has slowed down for him. These things that seem like a big deal to her, he’s gone through those issues already. The role of him coming into this, for me, from the very beginning, was to support her, which lends itself to being a supporting character. There was never an intention for this to be about him. It’s always about her. It’s called Supergirl, and Melissa has done such a great job. For [Superman], it’s always about building her up and being there to impart wisdom when he can and support her when he can, but in no way try to make her feel like she’s not capable of doing anything that he could do.
Why did the first two episodes of the season seem like the right time to bring Superman onto the show?
KREISBERG: We were planning to do this when we were still on CBS, and I think it became even more imperative when we jumped to the CW, just because, especially when you make a giant transition like that, you always want to start with a bang and put your best food forward. We’d been hinting and teasing at Superman, all last season, so the idea to actually see him, and get to see Superman and Supergirl working together, just felt like a great way to open the season. And perhaps if people had either not seen the show before, or had watched early on and given up on it, it was a way to bring eyeballs back to it, especially ‘cause we really felt like we’ve hit another gear with the show, creatively. The show is called Supergirl, and it was always designed to be about somebody who had to deal with a very famous relative whose shadow was very difficult to step out of. In some ways, you didn’t need to see him to make that work. She started out not so sure of herself, but by the end of the year, she’s saved the world. We felt confident that Kara was in a strong enough place, as Supergirl and as Kara, that it was the right time to bring in her cousin and not have it overshadow her or make you feel like, “Oh, well, finally, Superman’s here!”
Are there any plans to bring Superman back, this season?
KREISBERG: Hopefully. We’re working on it. We’ll see. Hope springs eternal.
Now that you’ve established how important Clark is to Kara, how do you plan to continue that, when we won’t see Superman again for awhile?
KREISBERG: We always like the text messaging because it’s funny. That’s how people communicate now, so those text message scenes were always a pleasure to write. Any one of us knows how happy you get when your best friend, or your sister, or your brother sends you a text and just says, “Hey, how are you? I was thinking about you.” That’s become such a important part of our lives. In the first season, we couldn’t show Superman, so it was our best attempt to show that. Those scenes always had a strangely strong resonance, even though they were a gimmick. And now that Tyler has inhabited the part, whenever there’s discussion about Superman in subsequent episodes, or the thought of them talking to each other, or somebody says, “I’ll check in with Superman,” now you can imagine Tyler. It makes all of those mentions, and then the idea of him being out there, that much more powerful because you can imagine it and you know that he’s out there and he’s ready to help.
We’ve already met Lucy Lane, so what are the chances that we might get to meet Lois, and do you have any dream casting in mind for the role?
HOECHLIN: I think there’s plenty of talented actresses out there who could do it justice, but no dream casting. Hopefully, it would just be a dream person to work with, and somebody who’s a very supportive actress and very present in there, and who was always great and nice to the crew. That’s always a nice bonus. Any of those requirements would be great. But, I think it could be fun.
KREISBERG: There’s no real plans right now. We’re happy we have Superman.
Andrew, you certainly have enough on your plate from all the various shows and crossovers, but seeing how easily Tyler Hoechlin slipped into this character in this world, did you ever think about spinning him off into his own show?
KREISBERG: This is going to sound like we’re abused kids, but we’re so happy with what we get to do. I don’t mean for that to sound as bad as it does, but we asked if we could have Superman in the first episode, and DC and Warner Brothers said, “You can have him for the first two episodes!” And we were like, “Great!” I’m not going to sit here and say that there’s never going to be a world in which there is a Superman TV show and that Tyler’s going to star in it. I don’t know what the future holds. But right now, that’s not our focus. Right now, we’re working on Supergirl, which is the flagship, and working on a way for Tyler to reprise the role is really what our focus is on Supergirl right now.
In regard to the transition from CBS to The CW, are you approaching anything differently now?
KREISBERG: This was pretty much what we envisioned. As far as the changes were concerned, we were always going to revamp the DEO. We just fell out of love with the cave set. It just didn’t feel of a piece. It was cool in the beginning, and then for some reason, it just didn’t feel like it was bringing everything together. And we were always going to have Winn join the DEO. There wasn’t as much difference between the CBS pitch and The CW pitch. Some of the stuff that we’re, doing down the road in subsequent episodes, once we knew we were on The CW, we felt more comfortable framing the show in our terms. It’ll feel more of a piece with The Flash and Arrow and Legends, and maybe embrace some of the more comic book elements. But, they weren’t that different. Certainly, the idea to have Superman was there from the get-go.
Where will James Olsen fit in, this season?
KREISBERG: James has a pretty big turn, coming up. These next few episodes are going to make him realize that being a photographer and sitting behind [a desk] is not going to be enough for him. He’s going to go on a pretty exciting career trajectory that we’re really pumped about. James is going to decide that he can no longer sit back and be a sidekick, so he’s going to decide to become a vigilante, and he’s going to become Guardian, complete with the shield, which is going to cause a massive problem in his relationship with Kara because he has decided not to tell her. So, there’s this new masked vigilante, and she has her own feelings about vigilantes, and it becomes a push and pull about who gets to decide who gets to be a hero. And he’s recruited Winn to help him, so Winn is his man in the van. The two of them are doing this together, and Winn and James together is comedy gold. Winn takes the job at the DEO, but then is lying to everybody about how he’s spending his nights because he’s going out with James. He walks in exhausted, and he walks in with a black eye and says he walked into a door. That’s the fun excitement of building these first 10 episodes.
It felt like Kara’s romantic relationship with James Olsen was a big part of Season 1, but then, in the first episode of Season 2, they put a halt to it, which felt a little bit like a course correction. What that always the plan, from Season 1 to Season 2, to have her no longer pursue that?
KREISBERG: James becoming Guardian was definitely one of the things that changed when we were going to The CW. As far as the two of them are concerned, they’re both tremendously talented actors, they’re both lovely people, and they both love working with each other. I think we felt like we were pursuing that relationship more because we felt like we had to, than any of us were really, truly feeling it. It was interesting because we brought in some new writers, in the middle of the season, for some fresh blood, and even they weren’t quite sure how to making it happen. We realized that the best scenes between them were just the nice, sweet scenes where they were being friends. Whether the show was on CBS or The CW, it has a large fan base and a loyal fan base, and we didn’t feel like we could just drop it because we had made such a big deal about it in the first season. But we thought, rather than just opening the episode with, “Well, we had our summer romance, sorry that didn’t work out,” we wanted to actually make it part of the story. The theme of last year was, how does Kara become Supergirl? The theme of this year is, how does Supergirl become Kara? So, it felt like there was a way to have that realization actually be part of the story. Most of us have had friendships that turned into something more, and then you realize maybe it wasn’t. It felt like a very natural, real story that we could be telling.
Have you scheduled Cat’s return yet?
KREISBERG: No, we’re still trying to work out her schedule. She’s got stuff going on with her family.
Do you know how many episodes she’ll be in?
KREISBERG: I don’t know yet. Hopefully, as many as we can get. We love working with Calista [Flockhart], and Calista loves the show, which is why she came back to do this.
Obviously, a lot of last season was about Kara trying to prove herself to Cat and establish herself in the workplace. What can you say about her dynamic with Snapper Carr and how that’s different?
KREISBERG: Despite her not exactly warm personality, I think Cat, both with Kara and with others, is actually devoted to mentoring people and seeing them rise. She challenges them, and she challenges them hard, but I think she does that with the idea that they’re going to come out the other side as stronger, better people, and she takes pride in that. I think she genuinely takes pride in the person that Kara has become, up until this point, and that she helped get her there. But, Snapper Carr doesn’t give a crap. He believes in the written word. He believes in facts. He believes in, “Are you good at your job? If you’re not good at your job, then I don’t have time for you.” Kara’s not used to that. As tough as Cat was, I think Kara knew that Cat was her mentor. They would share emotions and things about their lives, and Snapper doesn’t care about that. Kara isn’t a good reporter yet. She’s learning. She’s probably the best assistant you could ever have, between just being Kara Danvers and being the responsible person that Kara is, but then on top of that, being Supergirl, she was able to accomplish a lot. Now she’s picked a profession that, by some rights, she shouldn’t even be in. She really has to prove herself.
That’s interesting because, last year, even though she had to deal with Cat, Kara had it all going on at CatCo. Supergirl was where she was flummoxed sometimes and earning her wings. Now, she’s fully Supergirl. She’s saved the world a couple of times, and she knows what she’s doing there. But now, she’s sucked into a job that she isn’t great at. Watching her slowly win Snapper over is much more satisfying. Ian [Gomez] is so great. He doesn’t give her much. He’s so mean to her. They’ve got this very Lou Grant/Mary Tyler Moore relationship, and it’s certainly not a relationship that’s going to have any hugs, any time soon. That’s something new for her. When you’re an assistant, you learn everything there is to know about your boss, and then your reward is to get a promotion and go work for somebody who you don’t know, at all, and you’re right back at the bottom again where you suddenly know nothing. That’s a very common thing that happens to people, and that’s what’s happens to Kara, which is why her day life has become even more complicated than her heroics.
How will Mon-El fit into things?
KREISBERG: The last thing Mon-El remembers is being on an alien world and jumping into a pod. Suddenly, he wakes up in a strange world and he’s all alone, surrounded by people with guns. He’s reacting to the fact that he suddenly has superpowers, which he wasn’t expecting. How that story weaves about, and how he and Kara come together by the end, is hopefully pretty clever and interesting. We’re going to explore, in our universe, the idea that Daxam and Krypton were sister worlds, but they didn’t really get along. It’s sort of the Hatfields and the McCoys. There’s a lot of innate hostility that Mon-El and Kara have for each other, simply because of their backgrounds, which is interesting. Kara is not exactly on her best behavior, and we always think Kara is so interesting when she’s flawed.
Tyler, what choices did you make, physically and acting wise, to distance your Superman from the other animated or live-action versions that we’ve seen?
HOECHLIN: Because I distinctively stayed away from every other Superman thing, I’m very ignorant of the past films and series. The one I grew up with was Dean Cain on Lois & Clark. That was my Superman, growing up. I did not go back and watch any of the Christopher Reeve movies, or any of the previous ones that have been done. And I haven’t seen the current ones. I wanted to do that because, as an actor, I wanted zero temptation to imitate or emulate anything. I had a great meeting with Andrew and Greg [Berlanti], where we all really hit it off about what we all personally found interesting about the character, and I felt very committed to those ideas. I never wanted to do something and be like, “Oh, that felt a little too much like Reeve,” or “That wasn’t close enough to do what they did with that.” If something’s similar, then it’s similar. If it’s completely off, then it’s completely off. But it was never intentionally trying to hit a beat, or hit something that was done in the past. They’re just the things that we committed to, from the very beginning. I think there’s something very freeing, creatively, when you commit to something that you believe in, personally. If the reception today was that everyone hated it, I’d be like, “Well, that sucks! That really sucks! But I committed to what I honestly thought was great about it, and if that’s not what everybody else thinks about it, then that’s fine.” The worst thing is to try to do something, thinking that it’s what other people will think is right about it, and then they still don’t like it ‘cause then you’ve failed without even actually trusting yourself to do something that you believed in, in the first place.
Is there any hope for Superman to meet Jeremiah Danvers or Ray Palmer (both Dean Cain and Brandon Routh have previously played Superman), at some point?
KREISBERG: I don’t know. If it works out for an episode when Dean comes back, maybe. I don’t know about Brandon, but there’s no definitive plans. It’s always cool.
The doctor at Cadmus implies that Jeremiah is not necessarily quite human anymore, and that something significant has been done to him. Can you tease what is meant by that?
KREISBERG: We want to keep the mystery of who and what Jeremiah is alive. He’s been under Cadmus’ control for the last 12 years. The Jeremiah that we see might not be exactly what people expect, just to complicate the storyline for Kara and Alex. It’s too good to spoil.
With the four show cross-over between Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow, how will Kara relate to the other characters?
KREISBERG: Some people, like Barry, already know her. Barry’s completely cool with her. Some people are instantly charmed by her. I think Sara’s got a little crush on her. Just when Diggle thinks he’s seen it all, there’s a moment in it where somebody says, “This is Supergirl.” And they say, “What’s so super about her?,” and she just like lifts off the ground and he’s like, “I’m convinced!” With Oliver, part of his journey in those episodes is that he’s hit his breaking point for things he’s willing to accept. He’s had Mirakuru soldiers, the Lazarus Pit, and magic and Damien Darhk, but flying aliens that can incinerate you with their eyes is one beyond the pale for him. He’s keeping his distance, which is a very Oliver thing to do. Even Kara comments, “Does he not like me?” And Barry’s like, “No, that’s kind of how he treats everybody.” There are fun interactions. It’s exciting. Every time I get those dailies and see them all together, it’s just insanity.
Supergirl airs on Monday nights on The CW.
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