Supergirl: Andrew Kreisberg Talks Laura Vandervoort’s Casting

Laura Vandervoort, whose last appearance as Supergirl was in one of the final episodes of Smallville, will be appearing on the new Supergirl series — details about that here. After the annoucement, we spoke with Executive Producer Andrew Kreisberg about this Super-veteran coming to the screen… starting with some praise for the actress.

“First of all, when the show was announced, Laura sent out the sweetest Tweet, just saying how honored she had been and how excited she was for Melissa, and that meant so much to me. I just thought it was such a classy move. And then I met her at the Saturn Awards, and we had such a great talk… there have actually been a couple of other parts that we tried to get her for, but she wasn’t free because [Laura’s own television show] Bitten was in production, but as always with casting, I always find that when a role doesn’t work out with somebody, it’s because the right role is coming down the pike, and now [we] have her step in and be a recurring character on the show,” Andrew enthuses.

Brainiac 8 — aka Indigo — is “bad ass” and is integral to the over-arching Supergirl Season 1 arcs. And what might she look like? “She’s gonna look awesome. Definitely not gonna look just like Laura,” he teases. “Being one aspect of the Brainiac Program, she comes in through computers, so Winn is actively involved in that episode. But she has a very interesting backstory. She was one of the Fort Rozz prisoners. But how she came to be, and how she ended up in the prison, and what she’s been doing on Earth is part of the fun and the surprise of the episode.”

Since the role is recurring, the producers will surely not be able to resist having a scene featuring Melissa Benoist and Laura Vandervoort with the show’s other resident Supergirl veteran, Helen Slater. At the end of the day, though, it’s all about that legacy. “We’ll have three generations of Supergirls. And to think that the next Supergirl who’s still a little girl out there watching this [could be watching]… we always consider ourselves to be the custodians of this leg of the journey, but these characters came before us, and they’re going to come after us, and we’re just the lucky ones who get to be at the wheel for this portion of the ride,” he says.

Laura Vandervoort makes her first appearance on Supergirl in the show’s 15th episode.