Supergirl season 4: Jon Cryer on unusual Lex Luthor casting, what’s driving him
Earlier this week, Cryer told Live with Kelly and Ryan a few details about how he ended up landing the part, starting with a message that he got from The Big Bang Theory executive producer Bill Prady suggesting that he was up for the role. From there, he was eventually connected to the show’s executive producers by someone he went to summer camp with. Seriously, summer camp! The entertainment industry is a smaller community than anyone realizes and yet, it’s a summer-camp connection who ended up facilitating the phone call. Cryer himself admits that he’s not the first person he imagined playing this role, but after hearing more about what the producers wanted to do with him, it started to make a little bit more sense and really – who is going to say no to playing one of the most iconic villains in the DC universe?
Later on this week, Cryer told critics at a screening for tonight’s episode (via TVLine) that another reason he took on the role was to get a little bit of self-redemption after most viewers and critics panned Superman IV: The Quest for Piece, where he appeared as Lex’s nephew Lenny Luthor much earlier on in his career:
“Part of the reason I did Superman IV was because Superman: The Movie changed my life. I was 14 years old, and the tagline was ‘You’ll believe a man can fly,’ and boy I bought it … Superman IV had very high hopes, but was unfortunately very disappointing for people. That had always hurt me in a very 14-year-old boy way, so I thought this was my chance to do it right.”
It was also noted at this event that the season 4 finale (as a tribute-of-sorts to Cryer) is entitled “The Quest for Peace.”
How does Lex enter the picture tonight?
After being furloughed from prison due to some health problems, he pays his sister Lena a visit in order to come up with a solution for what ails him. This is probably going to look one way on the surface, and then turn out to be very much different. Lex is one of the most sinister people Supergirl’s ever come across — not only is he highly intelligent, but he’s a master manipulator and is very influential. He has so much power that he can make people buy into what he is selling, and he has this natural ability to steamroll anyone who gets in his way. He’s not a physical powerhouse, but he really doesn’t need to be in order to wreck havoc.
We’re confident in Cryer’s ability to become this character — we know that there have been a lot of Lux Luthor actors over the years, and we don’t know how many of them have actually been able to balance the character’s nefarious ways, his charisma, and his ambition all at the same time. Ironically, one of the closest is probably another TV Lex in Michael Rosenbaum from Smallville.
To see a larger preview for this big episode…
All you have to do is head over to the link here! Meanwhile, let us know in the comments what you want to see from Cryer as Lex tonight!