In the Supergirl pilot, Laura Benanti’s character, Alura, mother of Supergirl, dies. Not to worry, because by the end of the episode, we’re introduced to Astra, Alura’s sister, also played by Benanti. Sure, two episodes ago Astra died, but as of today, Benanti is still shooting scenes for the show. You know what they say: It’s hard to keep a good woman down. We spoke with Benanti about her multiple roles on the show, which character is really the best mother to Supergirl, and why so many Broadway actors are now superheroes.

Of course, in the comic book world, cheating death is easy. Even barring potions and super-science, there are flashbacks, which the show makes liberal use of; there are things like the Black Mercy plant which caused Supergirl to hallucinate that she was back on Krypton visiting family; and there’s even a hologram version of Alura running back at the DEO for people to obtain otherworldly knowledge. Benanti won’t reveal which incarnation will return to the show, but she does say that Astra is her favorite character to embody. “It’s been really fun to play all the different characters, for sure,” she says. “I feel like ‘Conflicted because she loves her niece, but also wanting to save the world / mind control everyone’ — that’s probably my favorite Astra.”

It’s also possible that we will only ever see Benanti again as the mostly monotone hologram — a role the actress nevertheless believes is important to the story. “It creates conflict for Supergirl,” explains Benanti. “She’s looking at someone that looks like her mother, but that thing has no ability to have feelings and that’s, I think, hard. And helpful.”

Supergirl has a lot of mother figures on the show — Alura, her biological mother; Astra, her semi-psychotic aunt; Cat Grant, her intense boss. But, says Benanti, “I actually think Chyler Leigh [who plays Kara’s sister, Alex] does the best job. “She didn’t know her mother for very long and she discovered her mother wasn’t exactly what she thought she was,” she says. “It’s hard to think of someone trying to kill you as your mother figure — even though she clearly loves you. It’s hard to get into a hologram who has no sentient thoughts or feelings.” And though Cat does fulfill some of those maternal needs in Supergirl, “I think Chyler’s character is more the heart.”

View photos

Though she’s been doing television for more than ten years (including a notable stint on Nashville last year), Benanti is primarily a stage actor. “I always just wanted to be on Broadway. I didn’t grow up wanting to be famous — a television star, a movie star…” But at 18, she did get on Broadway, playing the role of Maria in The Sound of Music. Today Benanti continues to give back to the stage: She recently wrote and performed the song “I Like Musicals” and is donating the proceeds to VH1’s Save the Music Foundation, which works to keep music education in schools.

Though the stage will always be her first love — she is currently starring in She Loves Me with Zachary Levi and Jane Krakowski – There seems to be little danger of Benanti leaving the Supergirl universe: “Whenever [exec producer] Greg [Berlanti] calls, I just say yes.”

In fact, if you look closely, Berlanti has tapped a lot of Broadway talent for his superhero shows. Grant Gustin, Victor Garber, and Jesse L. Martin on The Flash; Jeremy Jordan is also a Broadway actor and Melissa Benoist has spent many years on stage. Explains Benanti, “Greg Berlanti told me the reason he hires so many musical theater people [for comic book shows] is because there’s an elevation to it, but you still need to feel real. It still needs to be grounded in truth and reality. There’s almost a musicality in the language.” In the wrong hands, the dialogue can feel wooden or overblown, she adds. “He says people who come from the theater and do Shakespeare tend to be the best.”