The fifth 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 Kara Zor-El / Supergirl, premiered on

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 ...

on October 6, 2019, and consisted of 19 episodes. It is set in the

Arrowverse The Arrowverse is an American Superhero fiction, superhero media franchise and shared universe that is centered on various interconnected television series based on DC Comics superhero characters, primarily airing on The CW as well as web series ...

, sharing continuity with the other television series of the franchise. The season is produced by

Berlanti Productions Berlanti Productions (formerly known as Berlanti-Liddell Productions and Berlanti Television) is an American film and television production company founded by screenwriter, producer and filmmaker Greg Berlanti and producer Mickey Liddell in 2000 ...

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 ...

, and

DC Entertainment DC Entertainment is an American entertainment company that was founded in September 2009 and is based in Burbank, California. The company is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery which manages DC Comics characters by working with 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 The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, leaving the season with only 19 episodes.

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 ...

stars as

Kara Kara or KARA may refer to: Geography Localities * Kara, Chad, a sub-prefecture * Kára, Hungary, a village * Kara, Uttar Pradesh, India, a township * Kara, Iran, a village in Lorestan Province * Kara, Republic of Dagestan, a rural locality in ...

, with 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' ...

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 ...

Jesse Rath Jesse Rath (born February 11, 1989) is a Canadian actor. He starred in the television series '' 18 to Life'' as Carter Boyd and as Ram on ''Aaron Stone''. He also appeared on the Syfy series '' Defiance'' playing the role of Alak Tarr, on '' Be ...

Nicole Maines Nicole Amber Maines (born 1997) is an American actress, writer, and transgender rights activist. Prior to her acting career, she was the anonymous plaintiff in the Maine Supreme Judicial Court case '' Doe v. Regional School Unit 26'', in which ...

, 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 ...

also returning from previous seasons. They are joined by

Azie Tesfai Azie Tesfai is an American actress, writer, and producer. She is known for her television roles, including ''Jane the Virgin'' and ''Supergirl''. Early life and education Azalech ''(Azie)'' Tesfai was raised in Los Angeles, California, the daugh ...

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, Onta ...

, who were promoted to the main cast from recurring status in the fourth season,

LaMonica Garrett LaMonica Garrett (born May 23, 1975) is an American actor and former professional Slamball player. He is best known for his roles as Deputy Sheriff Cane in the FX series ''Sons of Anarchy'' (2011–2014), Mike Ritter in the ABC/Netflix series ...

, who previously appeared as a guest actor in the fifth annual Arrowverse crossover and the fifth season, and new cast members

Julie Gonzalo Julieta Susana Gonzalo (; born September 9, 1981) is an American and Argentine actress. On television, she has played Parker Lee on ''Veronica Mars'' (2006–2007; 2019), Maggie Dekker on ''Eli Stone'' (2008–2009), Pamela Rebecca Barnes on the ...

and

Staz Nair Staz Nair is a British actor and singer. He is known for his roles in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones'' (2016–2019), the CW series ''Supergirl'' (2019–2021), and the titular lead in the BBC One series ''Virdee''. Early life and education ...

. Former series regulars Jeremy Jordan, 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 ''Cloverfi ...

, and

Sam Witwer Samuel Weiler Witwer IV (born October 20, 1977) is an American actor and voice actor. He is known for his roles as Crashdown in ''Battlestar Galactica'', Davis Bloome in ''Smallville'', Aidan Waite in '' Being Human'', Mr. Hyde in ''Once Upon ...

return for the series' 100th episode.

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 ...

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 ...

as Querl "Brainy" Dox / Brainiac 5 *

as Nia Nal / Dreamer *

as Kelly Olsen *

as Eve Teschmacher / Hope *

as Andrea Rojas / Acrata *

as William Dey *

as Mar Novu / Monitor *

as J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter and

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 ...

Recurring

Jon Cryer Jonathan Niven Cryer (born April 16, 1965) is an American actor. Born into a show business family, he made his film debut with a lead role in ''No Small Affair'' (1984); his breakout role was as Duckie in the John Hughes (filmmaker), John Hughe ...

Lex Luthor Alexander "Lex" Joseph Luthor () is a supervillain in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the character first appeared in ''Action Comics'' #23 (published on February 22, 1940, with a cover d ...

Phil LaMarr Phil LaMarr is an American actor and comedian. He was one of the original featured cast members on the sketch comedy television series '' Mad TV'', where he stayed for five seasons. His voice acting roles in animated series include the Sam B of ' ...

as Malefic J'onzz * Nick Sagar as Russell Rogers / Rip Roar * Patti Allan as Margot Morrison *

Cara Buono Cara Buono (born March 1, 1971) is an American actress. Emmy-nominated for her role as Dr. Faye Miller in ''Mad Men'', she has played Karen Wheeler in the horror sci-fi series ''Stranger Things'' since its premiere in 2016. She also portrayed ...

as Gamemnae / Gemma Cooper *

Mitch Pileggi Mitch Pileggi (; born April 5, 1952) is an American actor. He played Horace Pinker in '' Shocker'', Walter Skinner on ''The X-Files'', Colonel Steven Caldwell on ''Stargate Atlantis'', Ernest Darby in '' Sons of Anarchy'', and Harris Ryland i ...

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 B ...

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 ...

Guest

"Crisis on Infinite Earths"

Production

Development

On January 31, 2019,

renewed ''Supergirl'' for a fifth season. Jessica Queller 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'', '' Bionic Woman'', Summerland, ''American Dreams'' (NBC) and ''Supergirl Supergirl is t ...

serve as the season's showrunners.

Writing

Queller described the fifth season of ''Supergirl'' as the series' "''

Black Mirror ''Black Mirror'' is a British anthology series, anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker. Most episodes are set in near-future dystopias containing Science fiction, sci-fi technology—a type of speculative fiction. The series i ...

'' 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."

, 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

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 An Achilles' heel (or Achilles heel) is a weakness despite overall strength, which can lead to downfall. While the mythological origin refers to a physical vulnerability, idiomatic references to other attributes or qualities that can lead to do ...

Episodes

Cast and characters

Main

Recurring

Guest

"Crisis on Infinite Earths"

Production

Development

Writing

Casting

Design

Filming

Arrowverse tie-ins

Broadcast

Reception

Ratings

Critical response

Notes

References