Supergirl's David Harewood Talks Jeremy Jordan's Dual Role in "Back From the Future Part One"

Jeremy Jordan returns to Supergirl on Sunday night for the first time since the actor left The CW series at the end of its third season. At the time, Jordan's Winn went off into the future with the Legion of Super-Heroes, leaving Brainiac-5 (Jesse Rath) to fill his shoes but when Jordan returns in Sunday's "Back from the Future - Part One" he won't just be playing the Winn fans know and love. He's also playing an alternate version of Winn, one that took a more villainous path. It's a take that's very different from Supergirl's best friend, but according to series star David Harewood, he and Jordan worked hard to make sure fans would be clear on which Winn is which.

Harewood, who is also directing Sunday night's episode, recently told Entertainment Weekly that there was quite a process in creating the two distinctive versions of Winn Schott.

"I've always respected Jeremy and respected his work, I've always respected his talent and his humor and how hard he works, so I knew he was going to really come out the gates," Harewood said. "And because he was playing two roles, I wanted to make sure there was a distinct difference between the two of them. Speaking to each other a whole month before shooting, we were constantly in contact about it."

He went on to explain that it was the new version of Winn that required just the right touch in order to bring him to life in a different way than the more familiar Winn.

"The Toyman, Jeremy had the idea that he was quite angry," Harewood said. "I wanted to keep him entertaining because he wants people to like him and support him. It was important to me that we keep him appealing rather than angry. We played with that together to carve out a slightly different characterization between his returning future Legionnaire Winn, and I think we succeeded in that."

That differentiation between the two versions of Winn will be important as, based on what we've seen both in the Supergirl midseason premiere and the teaser for "Back From the Future Part One", this Toyman Winn is part of Lex Luthor's (Jon Cryer) larger plan to get more information about the Leviathan threat. The only place to get the information about Leviathan is in the future, so when this "alternate" Winn is located, Lex sees an opportunity to bring the real deal from the future. You can check out the official episode synopsis for "Back From the Future Part One" below.

JEREMY JORDAN RETURNS; DAVID HAREWOOD DIRECTS – As Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) tries to thwart a Toyman copycat, Winn Schott (guest star Jeremy Jordan) returns from the future. David Harewood directed the episode written by Dana Horgan & Katie Rose Rogers (#511). Original airdate 1/26/2020.

Supergirl airs Sundays at 9/8c on The CW.