Fans said goodbye to Supergirl on Tuesday night with The CW airing the two-hour series finale event. As part of the two-episode sendoff of the long-running Arrowverse series, a number of familiar faces returned and while many had previously been confirmed – including Chris Woods as Mon-El, Mehcad Brooks as James Olsen, and Jeremy Jordan as Winn Schott – there were a few surprises. And it’s one of those surprise returns that had fans freaking out in the best way.
Warning: spoilers for the series finale of Supergirl, “Kara”, below.
After empowering humanity to be their own heroes and defeating Nyxly (Peta Sergeant) and Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer), Kara (Melissa Benoist) finds herself a bit adrift and struggling with her identity as Supergirl. This struggle is made a bit more intense when, out of the blue, during preparations for Alex (Chyler Leigh) and Kelly’s (Azie Tesfai) wedding she receives a phone call from none other than Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart).
Cat has bought back CatCo, wants Kara to be the new Editor in Chief, and, later in the episode, reveals to Kara – after a classic Cat Grant Pep Talk – that she’s always believed in her as well as known she is Supergirl. The episode ends with Cat introducing Kara to the world as the hero, a beautiful full-circle moment as it was Cat who introduced the world to Supergirl (and named the hero!) back in Season 1.
The return of Flockhart as Cat Grant is something that fans had hoped to see in the series finale. The character had last been seen in Season 3, as played by Flockhart, in the Season 3 premiere where she appeared in a cameo on a television broadcast while Cat Grant was Press Secretary for President Olivia Marsdin (Lynda Carter). Flockhart had departed Supergirl as a series regular at the end of Season 1 when the series moved production from Los Angeles to Vancouver following the shift from CBS to The CW.
Flockhart’s return for the finale was a major surprise, but a welcome one for fans who lit up social media – and briefly made “Cat Grant” a trending topic on Twitter. You can read on for some of our favorite reactions to the return of Cat Grant and Calista Flockhart below and be sure to share your thoughts in the comment section.