Supergirl Return Date Delayed Again

Supergirl fans are going to have to wait a little bit longer for the Girl of Steel to soar back into action in National City. The CW has shifted the Arrowverse series' return date back by one more week with the series now set to return on Sunday, May 3 in its usual time slot. The series had previously been expected to return alongside new episodes of Batwoman on Sunday, April 26 as the last of the network's Arrowverse shows to return to air following the unexpected coronavirus pandemic-related hiatus. The new return date has been updated on the official preview for the upcoming seventeenth episode of the show's fifth season, "Deux Lex Machina".

This is the latest schedule shuffle for The CW which, like much of the entertainment industry, has seen some major shifts due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In March, production on many of The CW's current slate of shows was abruptly halted due to COVID-19 concerns. For Supergirl, that means production stopped prior to the completion of the show's season finale, something that series star Nicole Maines spoke about as being "stressful" last month.

"We started on the season finale and we had a couple more scenes to do," Maines said at the time. "We have a couple scenes that are stragglers, so it's waiting for production to pick back up and what Warner is going to say. Because, as of now, all the shows up here have halted production."

"It's stressful," Maines continued. "We don't know when we're gonna be back, we don't know what we're gonna do. We've had people in the crew who've had to move on."

For fans, this latest delay may be pretty disappointing as well. "Deus Lex Machina" is series star Melissa Benoist's directorial debut, something that she's been wanting to do since Season 3.

"I've been wanting to direct since Season 3, but couldn't last year because of scheduling conflicts, so [star] David Harewood did it first," Benoist said last summer. "I just felt really drawn to it for a couple of reasons now, just because you know the show so well, and you get to know the character, and the world, and the tone of the show so well that you can't help but envision certain scenes in a certain way. I want to play with that."

The episode will also be one that may answer some fan questions regarding Jon Cryer's Lex Luthor. Since "Crisis on Infinite Earths", the villain has had quite a bit of power in National City with most people seeing him as a hero rather than the diabolical evil mastermind he really is. "Deus Lex Machina" is set to give some insight on why exactly that is as well as bring the Leviathan plot into a bit greater focus. You can check out the official episode synopsis for "Deus Lex Machina" below.

MELISSA BENOIST MAKES HER DIRECTORIAL DEBUT – Lex (guest star Jon Cryer) proceeds to lay an intricate plan to bring Lena (Katie McGrath) closer to him, defeat Leviathan's latest attack, and pit Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) and team against Leviathan. It is also revealed how Lex came into power after Crisis. Melissa Benoist directed the episode with story by Lindsay Sturman and teleplay by Katie Rose Rogers & Brooke Pohl.

Supergirl airs Sundays at 9/8c on The CW and is set to return with new episodes on May 3.

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