Supergirl: Chyler Leigh on Alex Becoming a Superhero in Her Own Right

From pretty much the very first episode of Supergirl, Alex Danvers has been a formidable force. A bio-engineer and now-former director of the DEO, Alex has worked alongside her super sister Kara/Supergirl (Melissa Benoist), taking on all manner of threats both alien and human. But while Alex has always been a hero, the Season 6 premiere of Supergirl made it official with Alex getting her own superhero code name -- Sentinel. It's been a long journey for the character, and according to series star Chyler Leigh, it's a journey she's been excited to help craft over time.

"You know, I kind of like over the past few seasons was trying to craft a super-suit because we know when it finally happened in season three and it was when Winn gave the super-suit to Alex, I had kind of been saying for a while 'Hey, do you think maybe at some point Alex could get past the cargo pants and like the Under Armour shirt because I don't think it serves as much protection when she's like jumping and running into. I think maybe we could do an upgrade.' So, it's just been a progression of upgrades for her as she took on bigger roles, bigger responsibilities, obviously, becoming director of the DEO and then after that," Leigh told ComicBook.com. "She didn't need a super-suit to be a superhero, but it comes with its advantages."

She continued, "I mean, she can't fly, which that's totally fine because I have Alex's rad motorcycle and also, you know, Supergirl can fly her in, Brainy can fly her in, Martian Manhunter can fly her in or phase her in, you know, so she's got ways to travel. But to have my gauntlet, the Hand of the Soldier, and be able to let that turn into anything, that's been really fun to come up with that. And my biggest thing was when J'onn introduces the Tower and he goes over and he shows all the little call buttons, or at least you see them for all the other superheroes, the first time I was like 'dude, where's my button?' I kind of gave like a little rouse to the producers and everybody just kind of like 'hello, it's not just like a phone call, can't she have a button?' So, they actually did it without me knowing it. I was like, that's cool. So, yeah, it's just been a cool progression for Alex. It's something that was always sort of inevitable."

And Alex's progression into Sentinel isn't the only heroic shift that feels a little inevitable. Last week, The CW released the first look at Azie Tesfai's Kelly Olsen as the new Guardian. Kelly inherited the Guardian shield from her brother James Olsen after the departure of actor Mehcad Brooks, with fans getting to see her use it briefly during the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover when she used it to protect civilians from falling debris. Kelly as Guardian will debut in the twelfth episode of the current sixth and final season, "Blind Spots", which will air on September 21st.

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