Supergirl season 3: How could writers tackle Floriana Lima’s reduced role?

At this point, the news about Floriana Lima’s reduced role on Supergirl season 3 is known by most in the fandom. There is just one other question to ponder over now: How are the writers going to handle the issue?

When the news first came out about Lima opting against being a series regular moving forward, the base assumption by many was that the Sanvers (Alex Danvers / Maggie Sawyer) relationship was going to be no more. However, that’s not necessarily the case. There are a number of different ways in which Maggie could be included in the season 3 story without her having to be a part of every episode. For a blueprint, just look at how Cat Grant is a part of the series now, even without Calista Flockhart turning up for every episode.

1. Maggie and Alex get different assignments – They’ve worked professionally in the field together for some time, but given that they technically have different employers, it wouldn’t be surprising if they went their separate ways professionally for a while. They see each other here and there throughout the season, and it’s assumed that off-camera their relationship is continuing as normal.

2. Maggie is put on some extended assignment – Maybe she’s off undercover for some extended period of time, which causes her to be featured in both the beginning and the end of the season. In the middle, maybe Alex cannot contact her. This may put a strain on the relationship, but by no means does it have to split them up.

3. Something dramatic occurs with Maggie – Maybe Maggie is captured by the new Big Bad in Reign and much of the season is kicked into high gear by that. Unfortunately, Alex is not able to retrieve her quickly and it takes several episodes for her to be found. The struggle with this idea comes in maintaining this sort of dramatic tension.

One other idea is that Maggie makes a dramatic personal decision, such as her heading home in order to deal with some demons from her past. Maybe she feels as though resolving these is the best way to ensure that she and Alex have a great future.

What else could happen? – In theory, the show could break them up, or kill Maggie off, but the latter seems especially hard to imagine amidst the criticism for killing off so many LGBT characters on TV these days. The optimist in us wants to believe that the writers will find a way to make things work, given that Sanvers is such a positive relationship and are so beloved by many fans out there. So long as Lima is in a small handful of episodes, there should be ways to write around her absence.

How do you think Maggie and Alex’s story could play out in season 3 of Supergirl? Share now in the comments! (Photo: The CW.)