CBS Has Found Its Supergirl

Last September, when news broke that CBS was developing a Supergirl TV show, I suggested a handful of attractive, capable ladies for the role—and now it appears that the network completely ignored every single one of them! Former Glee star Melissa Benoist has landed the highly sought-after job of playing Kara Zor-El in the upcoming Supergirl, which hails from Arrow's Greg Berlanti and already has a series commitment, TV.com has learned.

According to the project's logline, Kara escaped Krypton amid its destruction years ago and has been hiding the special powers she shares with her famous cousin since her arrival on Earth. Now, at 24 years old, Kara has decided that she's over being normal and wants to embrace her superhuman abilities to become the hero she was always meant to be.

Benoist was not on my original list of Kara contenders for two reasons. The first one is obvious: She's a brunette, and I was working off the traditional image of Kara as a blonde. The second is that I stopped watching Glee before she joined the cast as Marley and have yet to see her performance in the film Whiplash, so I'm totally unfamiliar with her work. However, casting a relatively fresh face as Supergirl was a smart decision on CBS's part. This is the type of role that has the power to make Benoist a star. Even though CBS's viewership skews older, Supergirl is almost certainly intended bring in the younger viewers that networks crave, and with Berlanti at the helm, the show's chances of success are high. The guy has already launched two successful comic-book adaptations at CBS's sister network The CW; now we just have to wait and see what Benoist can do.

Fun fact: Benoist is the second Glee alum to land a major starring role on one of Berlanti's comic adaptations. Grant Gustin, who's currently playing Barry Allen on The CW's The Flash, previously appeared on the Fox musical as Sebastian Smythe, the lead singer of the Dalton Academy Warblers. I don't want to start any rumors, but Berlanti is totally a Gleek.


Let's hear your first impressions! How do you think Benoist will do as Supergirl?