Supergirl Show News From TCA 2016 - Vandervoort! Master Jailer! Alan Moore!

I haven't covered all the news and casting but when it comes as fast and furious as it did 2 days ago, I feel I need to comment. Especially because this news is so fantastic that I felt compelled to discuss it. At the Television Critics Association tour on Monday, the Supergirl show crew announced some bombshells. This Entertainment Weekly article does a good job of recapping them:
http://www.ew.com/article/2016/01/11/supergirl-laura-vandervoort-indigo-master-jailer

Settle in, there was a lot of news. And of course I have lots of things to say about so many of these. So some blurbs from the article will be followed by my usual banter.

Laura Vandervoort has been signed to star on the show starting in episode 15. She has been cast as Indigo. Indigo was a Titan who started out as an innocent robot but was then revealed to be Brainiac 8, sent back in time to kill Donna Troy. But here is the blurb describing her in the show.

Indigo is described by producers as a living, strong-willed supercomputer who was sentenced to Fort Rozz after turning against the people of Krypton. Now on Earth, Indigo will let nothing stand in her way.

“She’s badass,” executive producer Andrew Kreisberg says. “She’s going to look awesome. Definitely not going to look just like Laura. Being one aspect of the Brainiac program, she comes in through computers, so Winn is actively involved in that episode. 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 on the prison, and what she’s been doing on Earth is part of the fun and the surprise of the episode.”

I am pretty pumped to have Vandervoort on the show, continuing the nice sense of legacy in the show. And bringing in a Brainiac derivative is great. Can't wait to see more. But let's be honest. We all know what we want.

We now have the chance to see all three actresses who have played Kara all together in one scene! This better happen!!

In other villain news, soap star Jeff Branson has been cast as the Master Jailer. In the comics, the Jailer was Carl 'Moosey' Draper, a brilliant scientist who grew up in Smallville, insanely jealous of Superboy and obsessed with Lana Lang. Here is the blurb from the article.

Jeff Branson will recur as the forceful and unrelenting jail guard on Fort Rozz who showed no mercy. Now on Earth, he is hellbent on catching all of the Fort Rozz escapees and brutally bringing them to justice.

One thing I like about this is that here he is one of the staff on Fort Rozz. I was wondering if there were any good guys on that prison. It'll be interesting to see if he has been hunting (and maybe executing) the Rozz escapees during all these years. Maybe be will play another ethical foil to Supergirl.

Lastly, in what I think is a brilliant move, the show will riff on the famous Alan Moore story 'For the Man Who Has Everything" in episode 13. In that story in Superman Annual #11 (a story everyone should read), Superman is given a vision of what Krypton would be like had it not exploded. It isn't all rosy. Kara has a bit part in the story, maybe something for me to highlight later. As for the Supergirl show:

“There was something about that particular story that, to me, was almost even more resonant for her,” Kreisberg said, noting that it’s a good guess that this will be the episode that features young Kal-El. “For Superman, when it happens to him, it’s his wish for something that he never had. But for her, she wants something back that was taken from her. It really is like her stepping into this fantasy of what life would’ve been like if she had never left Krypton and had grown up there, if her parents were still alive, if she had grown into the person and the life that she wanted to lead. Again, because it’s coming at a time where she’s feeling so low about her life on Earth, it becomes that much more potent… She’s actually getting back everything that was taken away from her and the only way out of it is to reject it. Imagine how horrible that’s going to be.”

Everything Kreisberg says makes perfect sense. She remembers Krypton. She would have an understanding of what life would be like. This is something she would truly want, unlike Kal who has no memories of the place. I can't wait to see this. Given how hard it was for Superman to reject the vision in the story, I am sure it is going to rip out Kara's heart. And this gives Melissa Benoist another juicy emotional scene for us to see.This also is a good explanation for the casting of a young Kal-El, news we heard about a while ago.

I don't know if they will do the 'Black Mercy' flower as the explanation for this dream. Could it be a telepath? Coma?

Lastly, we finally get confirmation that the Jane Doe in 'Blood Bonds' is BizarroGirl. Over on CBR, we get news of episode 12 called simply 'Bizarro'. Here is the article:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/kara-battles-a-bizarro-version-of-herself-in-supergirl-episode-12-synopsis

And the blurb:
"Bizarro" – Kara faces off against her mirrorimage when Bizarro (Hope Lauren), a twisted version of Supergirl, sets out to destroy her. Also, Kara grows closer with Cat’s son, Adam (Blake Jenner), on SUPERGIRL, Monday, Feb. 1 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

I don't know much about Hope Lauren but she certainly looks enough like Melissa Benoist to fool people from a distance. My guess is Max Lord unleashes her to besmirch Supergirl's character. I also bet that she starts out looking normal and slowly 'bizarro-fies' over the episode until she dies at the end. Let's see if I'm right.

Anyways, nothing not to love about any of this news. Laura Vandervoort!!!