The Internet Movie Database isn’t always accurate, as some submissions could come from a fan’s overzealous wishful thinking. It’s that kind of wishful thinking that generated an entire listing for a non-existent 2013 Metropolis TV show starring Tom Welling and Erica Durance a few years ago.
However, sometimes managers are the ones making submissions, and they don’t try to hide casting surprises and things like that.
Why are we talking about this?
Because the IMDb page for Supergirl is listing Dean Cain and Helen Slater as playing Fred and Sylvia Danvers, Kara’s Earth parents.
Now, we didn’t reach out to the studio to confirm this one – because we’re pretty sure they wouldn’t comment, even to say that it’s completely false – but we are sharing that this information is out there. Already, the Danvers seemed to be the most logical characters for the former Superman and Supergirl to be playing, so if they do turn out to be the Danvers after all, it wouldn’t be a shock. And, as a bonus, this kind of casting would mean that we’d [ideally] see them fairly often on the new show.
This wouldn’t be the first time a legacy actor played a hero’s parent: On The Flash, which shares some of the Supergirl executive producers, Henry Allen (Barry’s dad) is played by classic Flash John Wesley Shipp. Smallville’s Martha Kent was played by Superman III’s Lana Lang, Annette O’Toole, and Lois & Clark’s Teri Hatcher made a brief appearance on Smallville as the mother of Lois. The first actress to play Lois Lane’s mother on Lois & Clark was a former Lois Lane herself, Phyllis Coates. Going back to when this kind of casting started, Kirk Alyn and Noel Neill played Lois Lane’s parents in the first Superman movie with Christopher Reeve… and these are just a few examples of when it has happened before.
The Supergirl pilot is currently shooting for a hopeful spot on the CBS Fall schedule.
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Dean Cain starred in Lois & Clark, The New Adventures of Superman between September 12, 1993 and June 14, 1997. Helen Slater starred in Supergirl in 1984. So most kids under age 18, and likely a few adults under 21, would remember them. So they would face an entirely new audience.
I remember seeing Kirk Alyn and Noel Neill in SUPERMAN THE MOVIE and I knew exactly who they were. For those who don't know, Kirk and Noel were little Lois's parents on the train that went thru Smallville when Lois saw Clark racing along the train.
Noel also played Lex Luthor's dying wife at the beginning of SUPERMAN RETURNS.
Kirk Alyn was the very first on screen live action SUPERMAN in 2 serial movies in the 40's and Noel Neill played Lois Lane in both of them!