Fans of The CW’s Supergirl and of Chris Wood in particular don’t need to worry that Mon-El finished up his run on the series with the season two finale. Wood will be returning, however he was close-mouthed when it came to laying out the hows and whys during roundtable interviews at the 2017 San Diego Comic Con. You’ll have to wait until Supergirl season three premieres on October 9, 2017 for specific answers to Mon-El’s return.
Were you worried about the season finale or did they assure you you’d be coming back?
Chris Wood: “That sort of direction at the end of the season is sort of what they pitched when I first heard about the role and what I knew was happening. It was all the filler stuff…stuff with my mother coming to Earth and trying to conquer it, and my ultimately having to aid in her defeat…that was all the big story that they threw at me as Mon-El’s arc. He went from selfish to self-sacrifice. But what I didn’t know was what was going to come after that. I knew I was still involved but not what they were thinking – which I can say very little about, I’m sworn to secrecy. But Mon-El, his hypothetical return would probably bring some new dimensions to the show in ways the fans would probably be very satisfied with.”
You’ve previously mentioned Mon-El’s costume and how “bad-ass” it was. What happened?
Chris Wood: “So, there was a suit. We’ve had a suit since the third episode of last season and it just kept getting pushed back. (Laughing) I don’t write the show. I’m not in charge. I don’t call the shots although sometimes we all wish we did. But, there was a suit the whole time but it was one of those things where the character wasn’t ready for the suit. They kept on thinking that he was going to do this and do that, and they kept realizing that it was stronger to have that moment at the end right before he makes that sacrifice, to have that be the first moment he’s really clicked into hero mode.
You have to earn the cape. You can’t be a hero and still be selfish. You can have your moments; you can get it wrong. […]They thought he was going to evolve one way, but they pulled him a different way. I think it worked out for the best because now it gave us a really cool launching point to start from next season.”
What can you tell us about where he ended up? Do you think he does deserve the cape now?
Chris Wood: “To me, Mon-El started super flawed with a really small-minded perspective because of his background, and his wealth and his inability to relate to and connect with people. And only caring about himself and saving himself. He ended the season by being willing to die to save an entire people of a planet that is not his own, which is sort of the furthest he could have come. And I think what that shows is that instead of having an external force like Kara (Melissa Benoist) saying, ‘No, this is right. You want to become this.’ Him willing to do that and saying, ‘This is what I think we should do,’ shows that the change is now inside. I think once he’s crossed that line, he probably won’t come back. That’s when I think you’re allowed to have a suit, when it’s now inside of you as opposed to you’re doing it because someone’s telling you to.”
Do you think that down the line Mon-El might feel a responsibility to be with his own people?
Chris Wood: “That’s a really good question. In that episode before Rhea kills his father, you see a moment when he sort of talks his dad into, ‘Let’s reform our way of life. Let’s change this. Let’s not become the people that we were before again. Let’s become something new and better.’ I totally think with the Daxamites still out there floating around, there’s a chance he’d feel compelled to bring some of the love and humanity of what he’s learned back to his people. I don’t write the show, so I don’t know!”
Watch the full Chris Wood Supergirl interview:
(Interview by Fred Topel. Article by Rebecca Murray.)
