‘Supergirl’ Producers Talk Jon Cryer’s Lex Luthor, And His Impact on Kara

When Superman IV: The Quest For Peace actor Jon Cryer was named as Supergirl‘s new Lex Luthor, it was just the most recent in a long line of Superman family “legacy hires” that the show has done…but this one had some fans pretty confused.

Cryer is best known for his comedy work, after all, and Lex Luthor is generally a pretty dark character. Executive producers Jessica Queller and Robert Rovner told ComicBook.com that they can’t wait for fans to see what the Pretty in Pink actor has in store.

Rovner laughed that Lenny Luthor was “quite different” from the version of Lex that Cryer will be bringing to Supergirl.

“But Jon Cryer is just a phenomenal actor, and he’s got that twinkle in his eye,” Queller added. “He’s masterful, he’s got humor. He’s just gonna kill it.”

As for Kara, she will be forced to deal with her cousin’s most troubling nemesis at a time when Superman himself is off-planet and without his powers. That is bound to make for some interesting tales.

“I think she feels the challenge,” Rovner said. “I think with Lex around, it’s her cousin’s big foil, and I think she feels the responsibility to bring a character like that to justice in probably a bigger way than she would’ve if Clark were around. She doesn’t want to mess it up.”

Lex’s story promises to impact a lot of people, especially Lena (his sister) and James Olsen (Lena’s boyfriend and Superman’s best pal). It will also, in all likelihood, tie in with the stories of The Elite, Ben Lockwood, and Red Daughter, as the producers teased that the seemingly-disparate season-long arcs would come together in an unexpected way as the season winds down.

“I think what’s great about the second half of the season is that we’ve laid a lot of different stories at the beginning half of the season,” Rovner said. “We create some more, but all our stories dovetail by the end of the season, so that everything’s been done by design and they’re all on a collision course into what we hope will be a very exciting and a resolution.”

Supergirl airs on Sunday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT, before episodes of Charmed on The CW.