Supergirl to Do Their “Own Spin” on Leviathan in Season 5

Season 4 of Supergirl ended on a somewhat ominous note. While Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer) was defeated by Supergirl and her allies — and ultimately killed by his own sister, Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath) — the end of one threat simply made space for the rise of another. As Eve Tessmacher (Andrea Brooks) was told as she attempted to skip town following Lex’s failure, Leviathan is coming. For fans of comics the name Leviathan has a couple of meanings, but they might not want to get too bogged down in the details: the show will be putting their own spin on things in Season 5.

According to showrunners Jessica Queller and Robert Rovner, while Leviathan is taking center stage as part of Brian Michael Bendis’ Event Leviathan series in comics, Supergirl‘s take fits more to their technology-related story for Season 5.

“We’re putting our own spin on it,” Queller told Entertainment Weekly.

“It really fit into what we’re doing [this season with technology], and so it was a happy marriage of us needing a big idea and there being a big dark organization for us to use,” Rovner added.

For those not completely familiar, Leviathan is a criminal organization in DC Comics, led by Talia al Ghul after she left her father Ra’s al Ghul’s League of Assassins. First appearing in Batman: The Return #1 in 2011, the organization was created by Grant Morrison and David Finch. However, as has been unfolding in Bendis’ Event Leviathan — specifically in the Superman: Leviathan Rising one-shot — it’s revealed that Talia is now as much under the thumb of the mysterious new leader of Leviathan as anyone else and it’s unclear exactly who that is and what they want.

Whatever the comics-based Leviathan is up to, Supergirl‘s story will be taking a turn towards technology. During the show’s panel at San Diego Comic-Con last weekend, Rovner explained that how villains use technology against people will be a prominent part of the season, one that Queller likened to Black Mirror.

“This season will be about how technology impacts us, and how people use it to escape from what happens in their lives,” Rovner said. “We’re seeing how our villains use technology against us, and our heroes try to bring us back.”

“What we’re looking at is how technology is impacting the way people engage and giving them an escape not to engage,” Rovner added. “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. It speaks to a lot of the stuff the characters will be going through.”

Supergirl‘s fifth season will begin Sunday, October 6th at 9/8c on The CW.