Supergirl may have stood up for truth, justice, and the American way by defeating Lex Luthor and his anti-alien plans for world domination last season, but that doesn’t mean that her fight is over and that things have gone back to normal. As the trailer for Supergirl‘s upcoming Season 5 revealed, people have retreated into their technology to avoid reality and it’s going to be a big part of the story this fall.
Videos by ComicBook.com
During the show’s panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, executive producer Robert Rovner explained that the impact of technology and how it can be used against us is a major element of the season.
“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.”
Fans got a look at exactly how much that technology fosters escape with the season trailer. In it, people are seen completely disengaging from the world around them, their eyes covered in an eerie blue tint. Even Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath) is shown tuning out to escape into the technology, presumably to avoid her emotions at having discovered Kara’s secret identity during the Season 4 finale. It’s a chilling prospect, one that Rovner along with co-executive producer Jessica Queller also told Entertainment Weekly makes the season sort of the show’s take on Black Mirror, the Netflix anthology series that takes a look at the dark side of the intersection between humanity and technology.
“It’s our Black Mirror season,” Queller said.
“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.”
As for what the characters will be going through, fans can expect some major challenges when it comes to Lena and Kara. Series star Melissa Benoist referred to the season as a fight for Lena’s soul.
“This season’s going to be a fight for Lena’s soul,” Benoist said, who was surprised and heartbroken by how Lena found out Kara’s secret. “I was devastated that it was Lex Luthor that told her. That was such a shot in the heart to Lena, a character that my character loves so dearly. It was painful.”
Supergirl‘s fifth season will begin Sunday, October 6th at 9/8c on The CW.
