During roundtable interviews at the 2018 San Diego Comic Con, Supergirl‘s Katie McGrath (‘Lena Luthor’) explained what it is she finds so appealing about her character. “I think what’s great about Lena as a character is because she’s not a superhero, she’s human, and humans – I don’t know about you – I’m not a good guy, I’m not a bad guy, I’m somewhere in between,” said McGrath when asked if Lena will struggle with the dark side. “I think that’s what Lena is and I think that’s what she’s struggling with – being a human surrounded by heroes. She’s surrounded by Supergirl and Martian Manhunter. These people are all heroes and she’s just trying to do what she thinks is right.”
McGrath believes in season four of Supergirl fans will see Lena attempting to make the right choices, but not everyone will view her decisions the same way. “You realize that not everybody sees ‘right’ as the same thing,” said McGrath. “Not everybody sees good as the same thing. So, when she does something good that can be taken and used for bad.”
Katie McGrath Supergirl Interview:
What will Lena be up to in season four?
Katie McGrath: “You’re going to see her be a lot more in touch with creating technologies and her intelligence and using that for the good of humanity. And obviously she’s got the powerful rock and what that means when you have a very intelligent woman and a very powerful artifact together. What’s going to happen? But whether that gets used for good or bad…that’s up to the show.”
Does Lena’s response and anger toward Supergirl feel real to you?
Katie McGrath: “Yes, it does because you’ve got to think that there’s so much… For Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) and a Luthor to even be friends is a huge deal but underneath it all they’ve still got their family histories together. They’re friends but underneath you’re dealing with years and years of past and I think it’s not that moment – it’s about everything that leads up to that. It’s about Lena believing that people mistrust her for being a Luthor and then when her friend does that she’s like, ‘I knew it. I knew it. I knew you thought about me like everyone else does.’
I think it broke her because she spent her whole life trying to be her own woman. And then to have somebody who she respected take that away from her, she’s broken. It was a big deal. I know Supergirl’s the good guy but she dropped the ball on her friend. She did and she knew it. She admitted it.
But, sometimes with friends things are broken and they’re hard to put back. And also for Lena the real tight friendship is always Kara. She respected and worked with Supergirl but her friend and best friend is Kara, and obviously Lena doesn’t know they’re the same person.”
Doesn’t she though?
Katie McGrath: (Laughing) “Guys, I’m going to say it again. It’s the whole structure of the show that we have to believe that. She flies, for a start, so if we believe she flies we’re going to have to believe that Lena thinks she’s two different people.
But, for her, she respected very much Supergirl but her best friend was Kara. I think if it had been Kara she would have worked more to rebuild that friendship. But I think because it was Supergirl and she’s a Luthor, and the worst thing that she thought could happen as a Luthor was that a Super would be like, ‘Sorry, you’re evil.’
She’s like, ‘Yeah. How can I trust you again because you never trusted me?’”
What do you think the storyline’s going to be for Lena in regards to Sam and Ruby? Will they be around anymore?
Katie McGrath: “I hope they come back. I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. I loved that friendship. If I could have Odette (Annable) here now I would. It breaks my heart. She’s wonderful and she brought something very special to the show. And, we will miss her terribly. But it was one of those ones where again it was a one-year contract. She was great and amazing.
I loved that relationship and I loved the way that over the show…for me, you were able to see Lena be flat-out good. This was just it, she was good. She was trying to help her best friend and it was very clear cut. There was no gray area. I think that’s rare with Lena because there’s always kind of an angle. But with Sam, it was just clear that she just wanted to help her best friend.”
What does Lena see in James and what does James see in Lena?
Katie McGrath: “Have you seen James? (Laughing) You’ve met Mehcad…I feel like that answers your question. Also, have you met me? I think James also again is a new type of hero and I think she sees a good man. In the world that we’re living in now, a good man can be hard to find but James Olsen 100% is. I think as well for her a man like James also who’s so close to Superman, who sees in her only good and who sees in her who she really is and doesn’t see her as a Luthor, I think that for Lena is a very powerful thing. I think that’s the basis of where they started the relationship and that’s how they moved on.
Plus, he’s hot.”
Do you think the conflict could grow into at some point where we do end up with a Lena/Supergirl Lex/Superman parallel?
Katie McGrath: “I mean, I don’t know why you want me to be Lex. We’re our own. This is what I find so funny about this is that you’ve got this amazing storyline between Superman and Lex. This is archetypal – everybody knows it. But that doesn’t mean that’s what we have to do. That doesn’t mean that Lena is Lex. And it doesn’t mean that Supergirl is Superman. We are creating our own stories and we’re creating our own characters. It doesn’t necessarily mean we have to follow what Superman did. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the women have to follow what the men did before them.
It’s their own story. They’ve worked very hard to create these characters and to create these wonderful storylines. And, yes, they can harken back to the original comic but at the same time it’s separate. So, it could happen. I mean, I don’t know what they’re going to do. But, wouldn’t you like to see something different?”
Supergirl season four will premiere on The CW on October 14, 2018.
