Supergirl season 3 spoilers: Laura Benanti recast with Smallville alum
In a statement on Friday, show executive producer Andrew Kreisberg confirmed officially that Erica Durance of Smallville fame (Lois Lane!) is going to be coming on board the CW series moving forward as Alura. He also explained that it was due to a scheduling conflict that the change was made:
“Unfortunately Laura, who Greg [Berlanti] and I have worked with for years going back to Eli Stone, was unable to continue in the role due to work commitments in [New York]. But we are so blessed that Erica has come aboard to offer her own interpretation of Kara’s mother. We had tremendous success with a former Lois Lane last season with Teri Hatcher. We know Erica will continue the proud tradition of legacy actors joining our shows and creating new and exciting takes on classic DC characters.”
Hatcher and Durance are far from the first performers with Superman / Supergirl connections to appear on the show. Former Smallville Supergirl Laura Vandervoort has appeared numerous times as Indigo, while Hatcher’s former co-star Dean Cain plays Jeremiah Danvers and Helen Slater from the 1980’s Supergirl plays Eliza Danvers. This show’s got a great history of feeling familiar and current at the same time, and this is without even referencing that Brandon Routh of Legends of Tomorrow was of course Clark Kent in Superman Returns.
Back when Benanti was Alura and the evil Astra on Supergirl, the show was airing on CBS and production was happening in Los Angeles. A recast is something that may have been in the cards for some time in the event they wanted to bring her back. At least here they are getting a great performer in Durance who The CW knows very well. As for how much we actually see Alura, that’s the challenge given that they presumably have to be either flashbacks or dream sequences.
Production is underway!
As reported previously, filming for Supergirl season 3 is taking place at the moment in Vancouver with Melissa Benoist and the remainder of the cast. The show will premiere this October, and the top story appears to be the arrival of Odette Annable as Reign, the Big Bad of the season and someone capable of inflicting an enormous amount of damage if she turns out to be anything like what she is in the comic books. Beyond that, there is a major mystery with Mon-El that needs to be unraveled and producers need to figure out how to make use of the limited time that they have with Floriana Lima as Maggie, given that she is just recurring on the show this season.
Want to share your thoughts?
Let us know in the comments what you do think about Durance coming aboard Supergirl season 3 in this role! For other news on filming, story, and more, be sure to visit the link here. (Photo: The CW.)