The second season of the American television series ''

Supergirl Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. The character made her fir ...

'', which is based on the

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

character Supergirl / Kara Zor-El, a costumed superheroine who is the cousin to Superman and one of the last surviving

Kryptonians 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 refe ...

. The season was ordered in May 2016, and unlike the first season which aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

, this season was picked up by

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

. While the first season was filmed in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, beginning with this season filming relocated to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, to reduce the high production costs of the series. The season was filmed from July 2016 to April 2017. Alongside

Melissa Benoist Melissa Marie Benoist ( ; born October 4, 1988) is an American actress, singer and producer. Her first major role was Marley Rose on the Fox musical comedy drama '' Glee'' (2012–2014), where she was a series regular during the fifth season. ...

, who stars in the titular role, principal cast members

Mehcad Brooks Mehcad Jason McKinley Brooks (born October 25, 1980) is an American actor and former fashion model. He is known for his roles as Matthew Applewhite in the second season of ABC's series ''Desperate Housewives'' (2005–2006), Jerome in '' The Gam ...

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, and

David Harewood David Harewood MBE (born 8 December 1965) is a British actor and presenter. He is best known for his roles as CIA Counterterrorism Director David Estes in ''Homeland'' (2011–2012), and as J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter and Hank Henshaw / ...

return from the first season, and are joined by

Katie McGrath Katie McGrath () is an Irish actress. In television, she gained recognition for portraying Morgana Pendragon in the BBC One series ''Merlin'' (2008–2012), Lucy Westenra on the British-American series ''Dracula'' (2013–2014), Saskia in th ...

, Chris Wood and

Floriana Lima Floriana Lima (born March 26, 1981) is an American actress and model. She played Maggie Sawyer on The CW's ''Supergirl''. She began playing recurring character Darcy Cooper in season 2 of the ABC drama ''A Million Little Things'', and was promo ...

. Former series regular

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 199 ...

returns in a recurring capacity. The season premiered on The CW on October 10, 2016, and ran until May 22, 2017, over 22 episodes. It received overall critical acclaim, being viewed as an improvement over the first season. The series was renewed for a third season on January 8, 2017.

Episodes

Cast and characters

Main

as Kara Danvers / Kara Zor-El / Supergirl *

as James Olsen / Guardian *

Alex Danvers Alexandra "Alex" Danvers Ph.D. M.D., also known as Sentinel, is a fictional character from the Arrowverse television series ''Supergirl'', portrayed by actress Chyler Leigh. Created by executive producers Greg Berlanti, Ali Adler, and Andrew K ...

* Jeremy Jordan as Winslow "Winn" Schott Jr. *

Maggie Sawyer Margaret Ellen Sawyer is a fictional character that appears in stories published by DC Comics, and has been a supporting character in both Superman and Batman comic books. The character appeared in the live-action series ''Smallville'', played b ...

* Chris Wood as Mon-El / Mike Matthews *

as J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter and Hank Henshaw / Cyborg Superman

Recurring

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 *

Brenda Strong Brenda Lee Strong (born March 25, 1960) is an American actress. She began her career in television, including guest starring appearances in ''Twin Peaks'', '' Party of Five'', ''Seinfeld'', '' Scandal'', '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', '' ...

as Lillian Luthor *

Cat Grant Catherine Jane Grant is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was played by Tracy Scoggins in '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'' and Calista Flockhart in the Arrowverse tel ...

Ian Gomez Ian Braque Gomez (born December 27, 1964) is an American actor known for his comedic TV work, which include series-regular roles as Javier on '' Felicity'' and Andy on ''Cougar Town''. Early life He was born in New York City, New York, to an ar ...

Snapper Carr Lucas "Snapper" Carr is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Gardner Fox (writer) and Mike Sekowsky (penciller), and made his first appearance in ''The Brave and the Bold'' in ...

Lena Luthor Lena Luthor is a fictional comic book character in DC Comics. She is the sister of Superman's nemesis Lex Luthor. She was played by Cassidy Freeman in the television series ''Smallville'' and by Katie McGrath in the Arrowverse series ''Supergirl'' ...

Tyler Hoechlin Tyler Lee Hoechlin (; born September 11, 1987) is an American actor. Initially earning recognition for starring as Michael Sullivan Jr. in the 2002 film ''Road to Perdition'', Hoechlin went on to star as Martin Brewer on '' 7th Heaven'' between ...

as Kal-El / Clark Kent / Superman *

Sharon Leal Sharon Ann Leal is an American actress and singer. She is known for her roles in movies such as ''Dreamgirls'', '' This Christmas'', '' Why Did I Get Married?'', ''Why Did I Get Married Too?'' and her roles on the television shows '' Legacy'', '' ...

as Miss Martian / M'gann M'orzz *

Helen Slater Helen Rachel Slater (born December 15, 1963) is an American actress and singer-songwriter. She played the title character in the 1984 film ''Supergirl'', and returned to the 2015 TV series of the same title, this time as Supergirl's adoptive mot ...

as Eliza Danvers *

Tamzin Merchant Tamzin Merchant (born 4 March 1987) is an English actress and author, best known for her roles as Georgiana Darcy in the film ''Pride & Prejudice'' (2005), as Catherine Howard in the Showtime series ''The Tudors'' (2009–2010) and as Anne Hal ...

Lyra Strayd ''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 ...

Teri Hatcher Teri Lynn Hatcher (born December 8, 1964) is an American actress best known for her portrayals of Lois Lane on the television series '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'' (1993–1997); Paris Carver in the ''James Bond'' film '' Tom ...

as Queen Rhea

Guest

Production

Development

On May 12, 2016,

Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...

announced that ''

'' had been renewed for a second season of 22 episodes and would move to

from

Ali Adler Allison Beth Adler (born May 30, 1967) is a Canadian-American television producer and writer. She is the co-creator of ''Supergirl'' and '' The New Normal'', and is also known for her work on '' Chuck'' and '' Family Guy.'' Early life Adler was ...

and

Andrew Kreisberg Andrew Kreisberg (born April 23, 1971) is an American television writer, producer and comic book writer. He is best known as the creator of the television series ''The Flash'', ''Arrow'', '' Supergirl'' and ''Legends of Tomorrow''. Personal life ...

served as the season's showrunners. It was also announced that, beginning with this season, production would relocate to

from

Writing

In the second season, Kara Danvers / Supergirl and James Olsen end their romantic relationship, in favor of maintaining a platonic one. Kreisberg said regarding this decision, "We realized that the best scenes between ara and Jameswere just the nice, sweet scenes where they were being friends." He also said that while the theme of the first season was "how does Kara become Supergirl?", the theme of the second would be "how does Supergirl become Kara?". Kriesberg said another theme of the season was "about coming into one's own and becoming who you are", such as

Winn Schott ''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 ...

becoming who he is by joining the

Department of Extranormal Operations The Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO) is a government agency in the DC Universe appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. It was co-created by Dan Curtis Johnson and J. H. Williams III and first appeared in ''Batman'' #55 ...

(DEO), and J'onn J'onzz embracing his

Martian Manhunter 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" ...

persona, which he spent 300 years concealing, but does not have to any longer. The season is split in two-halves each with their own self-contained "

big bad Big Bad (abbreviated to BB or BBEG for ''big bad evil guy'') is a term to describe a major recurring adversary, usually the chief villain or antagonist in a particular broadcast season, originally used by the ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' televi ...

" story: Project Cadmus serves as the "big bad" of the first half, and Queen Rhea for the second half. The season establishes that

is gay, with

being her partner.

, who plays Alex, explained, "it's not like this thing that all of a sudden is just spilling out, it's a discovery for her". She added, "You have so many stories ..where people are already established as gay, lesbian, bi exual these are people who are coming in like that" and described the second season as a "great opportunity to show somebody who's figuring it out, the light bulb moment and putting the puzzle pieces together." While the first season showed that the DEO operates in an isolated cave located "in the middle of nowhere", the second season shows that the DEO has relocated to their other base, a skyscraper in National City. Kreisberg explained that the creative team of ''Supergirl'' "fell out of love" with the DEO's cave setting, saying "It was cool in the beginning, and it just for some reason didn't feel like it was bringing everything together", hence the reason for shifting to the skyscraper setting.

Casting

, Chyler Leigh, Jeremy Jordan, and

return from the first season as Kara Danvers / Supergirl, James Olsen, Alex Danvers, Winn Schott and J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter, respectively. They are joined by

, Chris Wood and

, playing

, Mon-El and Maggie Sawyer, respectively. Harewood also portrays

Hank Henshaw Henry "Hank" Henshaw is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, and normally goes by the name Cyborg Superman. While originally featured primarily as an enemy of Superman, he has in recent years also been an enemy ...

, who becomes this series' version of

Cyborg Superman Cyborg Superman is a persona that has been used by two supervillains who appear in comic books published by DC Comics. Fictional character biographies Hank Henshaw Hank Henshaw is an astronaut at NASA until a solar flare hits his space shuttle d ...

. The season establishes Olsen as the vigilante Guardian, unlike the comics where Jim Harper is the vigilante. The producers decided to depict Sawyer as a

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

for the series, unlike the comics where she is a white blonde; however, the character's homosexuality was retained for the series. With the move of production to Vancouver, it was unclear if

, who played

in the first season, would remain with the series, as her original contract stipulated that she work near her home in Los Angeles. The CW president Mark Pedowitz said Flockhart wanted to remain with the series and that "We're in ongoing discussions... we're happy to have her in n whatever capacityworks out." Flockhart ultimately reached a deal to be recurring in the second season.

originally auditioned for the role of Sawyer, although she herself admitted that she did not feel that role was a "good fit". She was subsequently sent a further script to audition for the role of Janice. Having won the role, it was not until she received her first episode script that she discovered she would in fact be playing the recurring role of Eve Teschmacher. The character's name is a reference to a character of the same name played by

Valerie Perrine Valerie Ritchie Perrine (born September 3, 1943) is an American actress. For her role as Honey Bruce in the 1974 film ''Lenny'', she won the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles, the Cannes Film Festival Award for Bes ...

in '' Superman'' (1978) and its 1980 sequel.

Design

Tyler Harron worked as the production designer for the season. With the move of the production to Vancouver from Los Angeles, Harron decided to take elements from the existing sets and rebuild them in Vancouver from scratch, rather than pack the sets such as CatCo and Kara Danver's loft, ship them to Vancouver and rebuild them there. This was done due to the difficulty of having separate crews to ship the sets to Vancouver and unpack them there. Kara's loft was designed to look almost exactly as it was in the first season, while CatCo was substantially redesigned.

Filming

The second season was filmed in Vancouver, rather than Los Angeles where the first season was shot. This was done to reduce the high production costs of the series, one of the issues that made CBS wary to renew the series on their network. Kriesberg explained that it "would've started to feel very small" if production had continued in Los Angeles, and that they chose to relocate to Vancouver to shoot in its outdoor locations, rather than continue facing the constraints of shooting mainly inside the studio at Los Angeles. Pedowitz said the series' move to Vancouver made crossovers with another CW superhero series, '' The Flash'', "easier to facilitate" as the series also films in Vancouver. Filming for the season began in July 2016, and ended in April 2017.

Music

The score for the season was composed by Blake Neely.

Arrowverse tie-ins

The episode "Medusa" ends with a scene where Barry Allen and Cisco Ramon of Earth-1 arrive at Kara's loft enlisting her help with a problem on their Earth, thereby setting up the Arrowverse crossover event " Invasion!" that begins on ''The Flash'' season 3 episode 8, continues on ''Arrow'' season 5 episode 8 and concludes on ''Legends of Tomorrow'' season 2 episode 7. This scene is later repeated in the ''Flash'' episode of the crossover. Kara/Supergirl appears in all three episodes as a visitor to their universe due to ''Supergirl'' being set in a different Earth, referred to as Earth-38 by the inhabitants of the Arrowverse, and has been informally referred to as "Earth-CBS" by ''Arrow'' showrunner Marc Guggenheim, named for the network where ''Supergirl'' first aired. Similarly, the episode "Star-Crossed" ends with Music Meister hypnotizing Kara and fleeing to Earth-1 to do the same to Barry, thus initiating the events of ''The Flash'' season 3 episode " Duet".

Release

Broadcast

The season began airing on The CW on October 10, 2016, in the United States, and ended on May 22, 2017. It premiered on the same day as the United States in Canada on

Showcase Showcase or vitrine may refer to: *Cabinet (furniture) *Display case Music * ''Showcase'' (Bill Anderson album), 1964 * ''Showcase'' (Patsy Cline album), 1961 * ''Showcase'' (Buddy Holly album), 1964 * ''Showcase'' (Philly Joe Jones album), 1959 ...

, and on October 24, 2016, in the United Kingdom on Sky One.

Home media

The season was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

in Region 2 on August 21, 2017, on DVD and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

in Region 1 on August 22, and DVD Region 3 on August 23.

Reception

Ratings

Critical response

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

gave the second season a 92% approval rating from critics with an average rating of 7.91/10, based on 19 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "The arrival of the more famous cousin in ''Supergirl'' does nothing to detract from the show's lead, who continues to deliver strength, action, and relatability."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 81 out of 100 based on 4 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Jesse Schedeen 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 ...

rated the season 7.3 out of 10, giving the verdict, "In many ways, ''Supergirl'' improved in its second season as the show moved to The CW and bolstered its already solid cast with several new favorites. This season not only looked better, it managed to blend epic superhuman conflicts with very real, authentic character drama and a status quo marked by plenty of anti-alien sentiment in National City. But not every character benefited from the shake-ups this season, and not every lingering Season 1 problem was addressed. And while the season as a whole had more good elements than bad, the final trio of lackluster episodes managed to end the year on a real down note." Evan Valentine of

Collider A collider is a type of particle accelerator which brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Colliders may either be ring accelerators or linear accelerators. Colliders are used as a research tool in particl ...

ranked the season at number 10 in his list of best and worst superhero television series of 2017, writing, "''Supergirl'' is a stalwart within a sea of superhero shows, not necessarily standing out, but not ever being terrible. Melissa Benoist still does a fantastic job of portraying “the Girl of Steel,” but we are hitting '' Smallville''-levels of drama with the rest of the characters". ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

'' writer James Plath rated the season 7 out 10 stars.

Accolades

, - ! scope="row" rowspan="12" , 2017 , GLAAD Awards , Outstanding Drama Series , rowspan="2" , ''Supergirl'' , , , - , Kids' Choice Awards , Favorite TV Show – Family Show , , , - , rowspan="4",

Saturn Awards The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films be ...

, Best Actress on Television ,

, , , - , Best Guest Performance in a Television Series ,

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

, , , - , rowspan="6" ,

Teen Choice Awards The Teen Choice Awards is an annual awards show that airs on the Fox television network. The awards honor the year's biggest achievements in music, film, sports, television, fashion, social media, and more, voted by viewers living in the United ...

, Choice Action TV Actor , data-sort-value="Wood, Chris" , Chris Wood , ,
, - , Choice Action TV Actress , data-sort-value="Benoist, Melissa" , Melissa Benoist , , , - , Choice Action TV Show , ''Supergirl'' , , , - , Choice Liplock , data-sort-value="Benoist, Melissa and Chris Wood" , Melissa Benoist and Chris Wood , , , - , Choice TV Ship , data-sort-value="Benoist, Melissa and Chris Wood" , Melissa Benoist and Chris Wood , , , - , Choice TV Villain , data-sort-value="Hatcher, Terri" ,

, ,

References

External links

* * {{Arrowverse 2016 American television seasons 2017 American television seasons Supergirl (TV series) seasons