Supergirl Showrunners Confirm Kelly Olsen Will Become Guardian in Season 6

Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh) may have gotten her own super-suit in Supergirl's Season 5 finale and then, in Tuesday's Season 6 premiere, her own code name to go with it, but she's not the only person who will take up heroics in the show's final season. Supergirl showrunners Jessica Queller and Robert Rovner told Entertainment Weekly that Kelly Olsen (Azie Tesfai) will become Guardian as well.

As fans of Supergirl know, National City's original Guardian was Kelly's brother, James (Mehcad Brooks). James gave Kelly his Guardian shield when he moved away from National City at the beginning of Season 5 and Kelly utilized it briefly during "Crisis on Infinite Earths" during the evacuation of Earth-38. According to Queller, though, the plan has always been to have Kelly take up the mantle.

"That [has] been our plan since the beginning of creating that role," said Queller. "We just wanted to find the right context for it, and so it just evolved really beautifully in the context of the social justice stories we wanted to tell [in season 6]."

It's an exciting turn for the character and it fits with what Tesfai herself previously said about fans getting everything they want for the character this season.

"The fans have been very vocal about what they want to see for Kelly -- and I feel like they know what I'm talking about -- and they, especially in the back half of the season, will get everything that they want, and it makes me very excited."

Tesfai is also co-writing the twelfth episode of the season with Tesfail previously saying that the time at home due to COVID-19 allowed her to write a spec script to dig into Kelly's voice which led to her writing an episode.

"I love Kelly Olsen so much and I'm so protective over her," Tesfai said. "And truly the fans, over the years, have made me step into being more protective over her and they've kind of empowered me to fight for her and speak up for her. I actually wrote a spec script during the break, during COVID when everyone was home, just to kind of show Kelly's voice and maybe some ideas, and that led to me writing the episode."

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