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 Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. Th ...

'', which is based on the

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

character Supergirl / Kara Zor-El, a costumed superheroine who is the cousin to

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

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 ref ...

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

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

, this season was picked up by

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

. While the first season was filmed in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, 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 cit ...

, to reduce the high production costs of the series. Other exterior shots were taken in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

(Germany) and show the local

Deutsche Bank Building The Deutsche Bank Building (formerly Bankers Trust Plaza) was a 39-story office building located at 130 Liberty Street in Manhattan, New York City, adjacent to the World Trade Center site. The building opened in 1974 and closed following the ...

, which stands as the new headquarter for the DEO. The season was filmed from July 2016 to April 2017. Alongside

Melissa Benoist Melissa Marie Benoist ( ; born October 4, 1988) is an American actress and singer. Her first major role was Marley Rose on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox musical comedy drama ''Glee (TV series), Glee'' (2012–2014), in which she was a serie ...

, who stars in the title 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 ...

Chyler Leigh Chyler Leigh West (pronounced ; ''née'' Potts; born April 10, 1982), known professionally as Chyler Leigh, is an American actress, singer and model. She is best known for her roles as Janey Briggs in the comedy film '' Not Another Teen Movie' ...

, Jeremy Jordan, and

David Harewood David Michael Harewood (born 8 December 1965) is a British actor, presenter and the current president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He is best known for his roles as CIA Counterterrorism Director David Estes in ''Homeland'' (2011–2012 ...

return from the first season, and are joined by Chris Wood,

Floriana Lima Floriana Lima is an American actress. 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 promoted to the main cast for season ...

, and

Katie McGrath Katie McGrath () is an Irish actress known for several television series: portraying Morgana Pendragon in BBC One's ''Merlin'' (2008–2012), Lucy Westenra on the British-American series ''Dracula'' (2013–2014), Saskia in the TV series ...

. Former series regular

Calista Flockhart Calista Kay Flockhart (born November 11, 1964) is an American actress. She is 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 and w ...

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. This is the first season to air on

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 Kr ...

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

Maggie Sawyer Maggie Sawyer is a fictional character appearing in media published by DC Comics, primarily in association with Superman. She is a member of the Metropolis police and handles crimes when Superman is unavailable. The character appeared in the liv ...

* 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, Onta ...

Eve Teschmacher Eve Teschmacher is a Fiction, fictional Character (arts), character created by Richard Donner and Mario Puzo who appears in DC Entertainment films and television series as Lex Luthor's Personal assistant, personal assistant and Innamorati, lov ...

Brenda Strong Brenda Lee Strong"Miss Arizona 1980"
''Arizona Republic''. July 13, 1980. ...

Lillian Luthor L-Ron L-Ron is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writers Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis, and first appeared in ''Justice League International'' #14 (June 1988). L-Ron i ...

Cat Grant Cat Grant is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. In live-action television, the character has been played by Tracy Scoggins in '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'', Keri Lynn Pratt in ''S ...

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

Snapper Carr Lucas "Snapper" Carr is a character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Gardner Fox and penciller Mike Sekowsky, and first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' in February 1960. From 1960 ...

Lena Luthor Lena Luthor is the name of two fictional comic book characters in DC Comics. The first one, introduced in 1961, is the sister of Superman's nemesis Lex Luthor, while the second one, introduced in 2000, is Lex Luthor's daughter who is named after h ...

Tyler Hoechlin Tyler Lee Hoechlin (; born September 11, 1987) is an American actor. He initially earned recognition for starring as Michael Sullivan Jr. in the 2002 film '' Road to Perdition''. In television, Hoechlin starred as Martin Brewer on '' 7th Heaven ...

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'' (2006), '' This Christmas'' (2007), '' Why Did I Get Married?'' (2007), '' Why Did I Get Married Too?'' (2010) and her roles on the tel ...

as Miss Martian / M'gann M'orzz *

Helen Slater Helen Rachel Slater (born December 15, 1963) is an American actress and singer-songwriter. She is best known for playing the DC Comics superheroine Supergirl in the 1984 film ''Supergirl'', as well as appearing in films such as '' The Legend of Bi ...

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 Supe ...

Tamzin Merchant Tamzin Claire Merchant (born 4 March 1987) is a British actress, 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 Hale in ...

as Lyra Strayd *

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). She also played Paris Carver in the ''Production ...

as Queen Rhea

Guest

Production

Development

On May 12, 2016,

Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios, operating under the name Warner Bros. Television (abbreviated as WBTV; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division), is an American television production and distribution studio and the flagship studio o ...

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 b ...

and

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

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 James Ara may refer to: Biology * ''Ara'' (bird), a genus of parrots * Ara (fish) (''Niphon spinosus''), a species of fish *L-arabinose operon, also known as ara Places * Ara (mountain), a mountain in Armenia * Ara, Armenia, a village in Armenia * ...

were 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 (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 ...

becoming who he is by joining the

Department of Extranormal Operations Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military * Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

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

Martian Manhunter The Martian Manhunter (J'onn J'onzz) is a superhero in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Joseph Samachson and artist Joe Certa, the character first appeared in the story "The Manhunter from Mars" in ''Detective Comics ...

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 is a term to describe a major recurring adversary, usually the chief villain or antagonist in a television series or a particular broadcast season of a series, originally used by the series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''.MacNeil, W. P. (200 ...

" story:

Project Cadmus This is a list of teams and organizations that appear in various DC Comics publications. Note: Please check :DC Comics superhero teams before adding any redundant entries for superhero teams to the page. 0-9 100 1,000 2000 Committee A ...

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

, portraying

Mon-El Lar Gand, known mainly as Mon-El (and alternatively as Valor and M'Onel), is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the Legion of Super-Heroes, Superboy (Kal-El), Superboy, and Superman. ...

and Maggie Sawyer, respectively. Harewood also portrays

Hank Henshaw Hank Henshaw is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, also known by the name Cyborg Superman. Created by writer-artist Dan Jurgens, the character originally appeared primarily as an enemy of Superman, and beginn ...

, 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 Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unit ...

, unlike the comics where Jim Harper is the vigilante. The producers decided to depict Sawyer as a Latino 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 Mark Pedowitz is an American entertainment executive. From 2011 to 2022, he was the president, and then chairman and CEO of The CW, after replacing the former president of entertainment Dawn Ostroff. During his time at The CW, Pedowitz oversaw al ...

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

. 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 a retired 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 Awar ...

in ''

'' (1978) and its 1980 sequel.

also joined this season in the recurring role of

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 The 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, cover-dated Jan ...

'', "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 Blake Neely (born April 28, 1969) is an American composer, conductor, and orchestrator. He has been nominated for seven Emmy Awards for his work on '' Everwood'', '' The Pacific'', ''Pan Am'', '' Pamela, a Love Story'', '' Good Night Oppy'' and ...

Arrowverse tie-ins

The episode "Medusa" ends with a scene where

Barry Allen Bartholomew Henry "Barry" Allen is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is the second character known as the Flash, following Flash (Jay Garrick), Jay Garrick. The character first appeared in ''Showcase (comic ...

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 "Mayhem of the Music Meister!" is an episode of the ''Batman: The Brave and the Bold'' animated series. The episode features the villainous Music Meister (voiced by Neil Patrick Harris), who uses his power to control people through song to try t ...

hypnotizing Kara and fleeing to Earth-1 to do the same to Barry, thus initiating the events of ''The Flash'' season 3 episode "

Duet A duet (italian language, Italian: ''duo'') is a musical composition for two Performing arts, performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a har ...

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, and on October 24, 2016, 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, ...

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 ki ...

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

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

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 and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...

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 an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, 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'' is an American video gaming 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 district and is headed by its former e ...

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 that brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Compared to other particle accelerators in which the moving particles collide with a stationary matter target, collid ...

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 ''Smallville'' is an American superhero fiction, 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 produce ...

''-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, ...

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

Accolades

, - ! scope="row" rowspan="12" , 2017 ,

GLAAD Awards The GLAAD Media Award is a US accolade bestowed by GLAAD to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding portrayals of LGBTQ people and the issues that affect their lives. In addition to film and television, the Awards ...

, Outstanding Drama Series , rowspan="2" , ''Supergirl'' , , , - ,

Kids' Choice Awards The Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, also known as the KCAs or Kids' Choice, is an American annual awards ceremony show produced by Nickelodeon. Usually held on a Saturday night in March or early April, the show honors the year's biggest in te ...

, 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 bel ...

, 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 were an annual awards show that aired on the Fox television network between 1999 and 2019. The awards, based on a popularity vote that could be overridden by the producerswho reserved the right to choose the winnerscovered ...

, 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