'Supergirl': How often will we see Superman?

When Supergirl takes flight on CBS this fall, don’t expect her famous cousin to be stopping by on the regular.

Supergirl stars Glee alum Melissa Benoist as Kara Zor-El, who escaped Krypton amid its destruction years ago. Arriving roughly two decades after Superman, Kara’s been hiding her powers until she decides to embrace her superhuman abilities and be the hero she was always meant to be.

As Kara comes into her own, Superman is already a world-renowned, cape-wearing superhero who has fulfilled his destiny, so he’s a little too busy to swoop on over to National City for a family reunion. Therefore, despite making a brief (and very backlit) appearance in the Supergirl pilot—as depicted in the screenshot above—Superman will not be playing a big role on the series.

“Our prototype is the way the president is seen on Veep,” executive producer Ali Adler tells EW, referring to the HBO drama’s clever way of mentioning, but never showing POTUS. “It’s certainly [inspired by] so much of what Julia-Louis Dreyfus’ character goes through. Ultimately, this is a show about Supergirl and we really want to see it through her lens.”