Supergirl's Ian Gomez Talks Snapper Carr's Relationships With Kara, James, and Superheroes

01/23/2017 06:59 pm EST

Ian Gomez may have spent six seasons on Cougar Town playing Andy Torres, one of the happiest men in the state of Florida, but that smile is nowhere to be seen on Supergirl, in which Gomez plays Snapper Carr, Supergirl's boss.

Tonight, though, fans will get to see a little more of him than they have so far, and maybe it will give him a little bit more of a human side...

...maybe.

"I don't know if Snapper knows how to smile," Gomez said. "I think eventually, they will get to a place of understanding. I think being a harass all the time is one-note and it gets kind of tired after a while, so I'm sure the writers are very aware of that — that there needs to be different levels of this character and what we see of him and what he shows. Their relationship, I'm sure, will change over time."

Still, he told reporters, he didn't want to end up just being a carbon copy of the relationship Kara had with Cat Grant last season, which started frosty and eventually became chummy.

He's not really the "chummy" type anyway: Gomez says that Snapper takes journalistic objectivity so seriously that he has a hard time connecting with almost anybody. James Olsen, for instance, is...tolerable.

"I think there's a level of some respect" with James, Gomez said. "I don't think James really fears Snapper, and Snapper kind of puts up with James. They're not going out for drinks or anything like that. He's, at the moment, a necessary evil that Snapper has to deal with."

The closest thing yet to a mentoring role between Snapper and Kara comes tonight -- but it's mostly just him trying to temper her enthusiasm. Gomez said that Snapper shares experiences from early in his career and tries to steer Kara to distance herself more from her stories.

"He's had failed marriages, he's not an easy person to live with. There's something going on there. He doesn't get emotional — he gets emotional but he doesn't get involved emotionally. He keeps things pretty on the surface and it's about the story," Gomez explained. As to superheroes, he said, "He's very practical. He exists on the facts; he's kind of a Joe Friday guy. So his feeling on superheroes or vigilantes — I don't think that he has a personal opinion about them. It's just what they do, if they're newsworthy, then get that story out."

Kevin Smith directed the midseason premiere episode with story by Andrew Kreisberg and teleplay by Eric Carrasco & Jess Kardos. "Supergirl Lives" airs Monday, January 23 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW

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