Supergirl: SPOILER Dies in the Series Finale

The series finale of Supergirl aired Tuesday night on The CW and with the Super Friends in a final showdown against Nyxly (Peta Sergeant) and Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer), it’s to be expected that there were some casualties. Last week, in “Truth or Consequences”, the Super Friends already suffered one such loss with the death of William Dey (Staz Nair) who was murdered by Lex, but in the series finale, there was another death that had surprising emotional resonance as the Arrowverse series went into its final hour.

Warning: spoilers for both hours of the Supergirl series finale, “The Last Gauntlet” and “Kara” below.

In the first hour of the finale event, “The Last Gauntlet”, while Lex and Nyxly were trying to get the Love Totem out of Esme, Lillian Luthor (Brenda Strong) paid her son a visit to try to talk some sense into him regarding Nyxly. After all, the idea of Lex being in love with an “alien” just didn’t really make sense to her. When that failed – Lex chose Nyxly over his own family – Lillian turned her attention to the 5th Dimensional Imp and planted seeds of doubt about Lex’s devotion. It ultimately worked, prompting Nyxly to end things with Lex when he went against her to try to take the Love Totem at risk to Esme – something explicitly against Nyxly’s wishes.

Abandoned by his love, Lex was firmly back in cahoots with Lillian again so the pair moved to double-cross Nyxly and get the All Stone for themselves. However, that plan failed when, during a scuffle with the Super Friends, the All Stone fractured into thirds. Supergirl, Nyxly, and Lex all ended up with a shard, though when Nyxly went to get a killing blow on Lex, Lillian leaped in front of her son, taking a direct hit. Lex went after Nyxly, leaving his mortally wounded mother behind for Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath) to tend to.

Despite the Super Friends taking Lillian back to the Tower for medical attention, Lillian ended up dying, but not before telling Lena the truth. Lillian had always known about Lena’s magical heritage but had hoped to spare Lena from going down the same path as her biological mother. She dampened the young girl’s natural abilities and steered her to science until she forgot. Now, before dying, Lillian set Lena free and encouraged her to live her own life and be her true self.

It’s a bittersweet ending for Lillian. The character was a long-running antagonist on Supergirl, but in the end, that little bit of redemption brought a great deal of peace for Lena. By the end of the final episode, “Kara”, we finally see her fully embracing who she is, which is exactly what McGrath previously said she hoped would be Lena’s journey.

“I really would like to see Lena come into full acceptance of who she is, that she’s fully accepted who she is, what she’s done, and who she is now,” McGrath said. “She’s not hung up about the bad parts of her, and she’s fully accepted the woman that she is, warts and all, and she believes that she is a good person. For me, that would be such a lovely wrapping up for Lena because she struggled so much with who she is. To finally just take a deep breath and go, ‘I’m enough, Lena is enough,’ and be happy for it, I know it sounds so simple, it’s not like these grand plans that everybody else probably wants for their characters, but it’s so simple for Lena. I just want her to finally be okay with who she is.”

What did you think about Lillian’s fate in the Supergirl series finale? Let us know in the comment section!