The annual crossover event that brings the four shows of The CW's Arrow-verse together is fast-approaching, and it will be something brand new this time around. Called "Crisis On Earth-X," the 2017 crossover will be a four-hour affair spread over two nights of primetime and featuring full episodes of Supergirl, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and Arrow. The heroes will be forced to face off against their Nazi doubles, and the whole thing looks intense. Supergirl star Melissa Benoist recently revealed what was tricky about shooting this year's crossover. When asked if she faced difficulty in the crossover, Benoist had this to say:
Yeah, especially when we do motion control shots where I have to be in the scene with myself and it's more tedious than a traditional split screen. And essentially, you're memorizing a whole scene, every line, every bit of dialogue and I didn't anticipate how hard the transition would be to go from lightness to darkness. A fun challenge.
In the big trailer for "Crisis On Earth-X," we see Supergirl facing off against the evil Overgirl in what appear to be a number of scenes, and Overgirl seems to get the jump on Supergirl at least once. Melissa Benoist had to work double duty for the crossover, bringing Kara to life as usual and introducing a brand new villain who could be the most formidable foe of the entire event. After all, even though all the heroes of the Arrow-verse bring important abilities to the crime-fighting table, Kara is definitely the muscle. She may be the good guys' only real hope of defeating the bad guys of Earth-X.
Making things more difficult for the heroes of Team Supergirl, Team Flash, Team Arrow, and the Legends will likely be the appearances of villains who aren't simply their doubles. We've known for a while that the Earth-X version of Prometheus will appear, and a new official image reveals a couple of more big DC characters who will appear on Earth-X. While the Ray will be on hand to help the heroes out, he may not be enough to turn the tide without some sacrifices.
Melissa Benoist also commented on what it's like to play Overgirl rather than Supergirl. According to CBR, Benoist said this:
I did play two characters. I did wear a very different outfit. There's still a cape and my face is covered and she's not so nice. It was pretty challenging. I thought it was going to be -- I've done here and there, I've had moments like that on this show with Bizarro and when Martian Manhunter takes over Kara's body, but this was entirely different. This was not even Red Kryptonite-isque. This was way worse.
On Supergirl, fans have seen Melissa Benoist playing other versions of Kara for brief scenes in occasional episodes, but Overgirl will apparently be a much darker version than Benoist had ever been asked to play before. Given that Overgirl is aligned with the Nazis, it's not a huge surprise that she's much more evil than the actress is used to playing in her regular work on Supergirl. It should be interesting to see how the characters compare, even if it may not be pleasant to see such a lovable character as Kara twisted into somebody dark and terrible.
The four-part crossover will kick off on Monday, November 27 at 8 p.m. ET on The CW, then finish up on November 28. Be sure to tune in to see all the heroes join forces to battle Nazis. For a sneak peek of what's to come, check out a bunch of crossover pictures. Don't forget to take a look at our 2018 midseason TV premiere schedule and our 2017 TV cancellations list.
