Going into the current season, Supergirl has already introduced a variety of different comic book characters from the histories of both the Girl and Man of Steel. But it has yet to bring in the most iconic villain of them all, Lex Luthor. That's all changing though, as The CW has announced Lex Luthor will be joining Supergirl's roster in Season 4.
At the moment, Lex Luthor has yet to get cast for Supergirl, but The CW's announcement noted that the casting process will get underway soon. Without knowing how young or old the character will be, it's hard to tell who fans should be clamoring to get cast. Should it be Bryan Cranston or Smallville's Michael Rosenbaum or some younger actor? Correct: the first option.
We don't know exactly what Lex Luthor will get up to when he arrives, but we know he won't be around for every single episode. The character will be around in a recurring capacity, likely causing trouble for Kara when other threats aren't as overwhelming. Of course, he'll probably also cause trouble for other members of the Luthor family. Keep it together, Lena! You got this!
Executive producers Robert Rovner and Jessica Queller were extremely excited to make this news go public. Here's how they put it:
We're beyond excited to introduce iconic villain, Lex Luthor, to Supergirl and to weave him into our story this season. We've talked about having Lex on the show since it's inception and we're excited to have him finally arrive. We can't wait for him to shake things up in National City and watch him go toe to toe with not only Supergirl, but his sister Lena Luthor.
Just think, Supergirl and Superman fans. Season 4 is when we're getting both Lex Luthor and the small screen take on Red Son. Maybe if we cross our fingers and write some emails to the show's producers, we can also get Doomsday and Darkseid to pay a visit.
The character of Lex Luthor hasn't been seen in live action on the small screen since the above-mentioned Michael Rosenbaum left his role on Smallville way back in 2008 (this doesn't include his appearance in the 2011 finale, of course). Actor John Shea also had the role on TV during the reign of Lois & Cark from 1993-1997, with Clancy Brown doing voice over duties for a popular string of DC animated projects as Lex during the early to late 2000s. Much more recently, the big screen gave us Jesse Eisenberg as a not-yet-bald version of the character in 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Stay tuned for more info about when and where we'll see Lex Luthor first. Hint: it'll probably be on a Sunday, since that's when Supergirl airs on The CW at 8:00 p.m. ET. Lex probably won't show up anywhere else in our fall TV premiere schedule, but it's still worth a look to see what else is on the way to primetime.
