'Supergirl' Season Premiere Synopsis Revealed

The CW has revealed the official synopsis of "American Alien," the upcoming season four premiere of Supergirl.

The episode will debut a new suit for Supergirl.

The purpose of Supergirl's new costume is not yet clear in-story, although it is likely that it helped get episodes made while series lead Benoist was on Broadway at the start of filming this summer. An opaque face mask likely means that Benoist's stunt double could do most of the work in everything but close-ups.

As for the appearance, it looks a bit like the space suit Emil Hamilton designed for Superman in the DC Animated Universe, so it could be explained that Supergirl is using it while traveling between Earth and visiting her mother in space.

Elements of the new suit are shared with Supergirl's new costume in the comics, although that might be coincidence more than intentional coordination.

As fans of the series will recall, Supergirl's third season ended with J'onn (David Harewood) stepping down as director of the DEO, Winn (Jeremy Jordan) going with the Legion of Super-Heroes into the future, and perhaps most shockingly, an alternate version of Kara (Melissa Benoist) popping up in Siberia. It turns out that this alt-Kara's appearance -- complete with the appearance of military men who spotted her walking towards them -- was a very deliberate reference to the 2003 Superman: Red Son miniseries by DC Comics.

Supergirl 04x01 Gallery

You can check out the official synopsis below, and preview images in the attached gallery.

HOPE VS. FEAR

Diving back into reporting, Kara (Melissa Benoist) welcomes a new cub reporter to CatCo. Meanwhile, James (Mehcad Brooks) and Lena (Katie McGrath) argue about James' impending indictment for acting as the vigilante Guardian, while Alex (Chyler Leigh) and Brainy (Jesse Rath) struggle to get in sync at the DEO.

Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) is called into action when remnants of the anti-alien terrorist organization Cadmus try to assassinate pro-alien leaders, but their endgame turns out to be much more sinister than she expected. J'onn (David Harewood) relishes his peaceful new life, but an outing with an old friend causes him concern.

Jesse Warn directed the episode with story by Robert Rovner & Jessica Queller and teleplay by Gabriel Llanas & Aadrita Mukerji.

Supergirl premieres its fourth season on Sunday, October 14 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.