Kevin Smith Says ‘Supergirl’ Will Have a Dark Turn on Lex Luthor

Fans of Supergirl were surprised earlier this month when Jon Cryer was cast as the iconic DC Comics villain Lex Luthor for an upcoming storyline on The CW series with many wondering how an actor perhaps best known for his most comedic roles would portray the villain. According to Kevin Smith, however, fans need not be worried about a funny Lex.

In a recent episode of his Hollywood Babble-On podcast with Ralph Garman, Smith teased that he knew long before the public did that Cryer was the favorite for the role, but more than that promised the show would be portraying Lex with a “dark turn”.

“I knew that a long time ago,” Smith said. “When I was working on my episode, they were talking about who would play Lex Luthor and his name as at the top of the list at that point and I know what they’re doing with the character. Like, it’s not humorous. It’s a dark turn.”

Supergirl taking a dark turn with Lex shouldn’t come as much of a surprise for those who have been keeping up with the series this season. Fresh off her largest victory yet when she saved the world from Reign and the Worldkillers at the end of last season, Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) quickly went from enjoying nearly universal praise to dealing with a wave of anti-alien sentiment from a group of domestic terrorists calling themselves the Children of Liberty. The group, led by the mysterious Agent Liberty (Sam Witwer,) has been carrying out what can generally be considered hate crimes against aliens as they push their Earth and human first ideology. It’s by no measure a light story.

And it’s one that’s gotten darker episode by episode as the season unfolds. The DEO, which had previously stepped in on all cases involving aliens both as victims and perpetrators, has found itself being supervised by Colonel Haley (April Parker Jones) who appears to have anti-alien leanings herself while James Olsen/Guardian (Mehcad Brooks) is so focused on finding out more about the Children of Liberty and their leader that previews for this week’s episode show him potentially going to violent lengths to get into their good graces.

Perhaps most chilling — and most indicative of where Supergirl may be going with Lex — is Lena Luthor’s (Katie McGrath) response to the anti-alien violence rippling through National City. Last week, we saw her Harun-El experiments result in an indestructible heart and with violence increasing (not to mention boyfriend James potentially putting himself in danger to get closer to them) Lena decided to move forward on human trials of whatever it is she’s discovered with the end goal to ultimately give regular human beings superpowers to match to the aliens. Everyman Project, anyone?

Even with the show’s path making sense, with Cryer being best known for his role as Alan Harper in Two and a Half Men some fans may continue to have their doubts but it’s something that Smith appears confident will end up being “really cool.”

“This is going to be like when Duckie went bad,” Smith joked, referencing Cryer’s iconic Pretty in Pink character. “It’s gonna be cool. The storyline is really, really cool.”

Cryer’s Lex Luthor is set to debut in Supergirl‘s 15th episode of Season 4, airing sometime in 2019.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

Supergirl airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.