Katie McGrath Hopes Lena Doesn’t Become Evil on ‘Supergirl’

With the last name of Luthor, fans of The CW‘s Supergirl have wondered almost from the introduction of the character when Lena Luthor would join the rest of her family and turn evil. Actor Katie McGrath, however, hopes that’s something that never happens.

McGrath told ComicBook.com during a recent visit to the set of Supergirl in Vancouver that while it’s very possible that Lena will take an evil turn, she hopes that her character’s future goes a different direction.

“I’d like it to be different,” she said. “I don’t think it will be what you expect because it’s never what you expect. I think they’ve set her up to be so sympathetic I find it difficult to think how ultimately evil and Luthor she can get.”

While Lena remains one of the good guys at the moment, fans have gotten a taste of what an evil Lena might look like. In the recent episode “Damage,” upon learning that Morgan Edge (Adrian Pasdar) had poisoned children to make it look like her device that saved the world from the Daxamite invasion had done it, Lena went to his office intent on killing him. Few fans would have blamed her for pulling the trigger, and that kind of sympathy is what McGrath says makes the best villains. It gives her some hope that an evil Lena would be well-handled.

“Always the best bad guys are the ones you sympathize with, are the ones you understand,” she said. “Back to Thor, Loki’s a bad guy, but come on. Your best villains are the ones that have a lot of humanity and a lot of sympathy, so I feel like these writers are pretty talented. They’ll probably stick with it and have it sorted.”

In the meantime, there are other situations for Lena to deal with that not necessarily lend to her being anything more than a good friend. Mon-El (Chris Wood) will return in next week’s “Wake Up,” ushering in the Legion of Super-Heroes as well as turning Kara’s (Melissa Benoist) life upside down, something that will, in turn, impact Lena as well.

“For a start, Kara is her best friend and the love of Kara’s life has just come back. So that is going to impact on everyone, I think.”

Supergirl airs Mondays at 8/7c on The CW.