Queller & Rovner Talk Supergirl's 100th 2/22/2020 5:11 pm

Every once in awhile, we get a truly wonderful opportunity to go a bit deeper into the world of Supergirl and bring that to our readers! Today, we had the chance to sit down with the Executive Producers of Supergirl, Jessica Queller and Robert Rovner, and talk about the monumental success of Supergirl, the goals of the one-hundredth episode and plans for the future! Check out our exclusive interview below:

Supergirl.tv: The two of you have been with the show since the beginning, right? Tell us a little about this journey.

Robert Rovner: Well yeah, it’s a real honor and a privilege to be able to write for the character of Supergirl and a show like this that really is able to speak to what's best in all of us and hopefully inspire and tell stories that are relevant to what's going on in our world.

Jessica Queller: It's a very special show. And we are well, it's been really amazing. Robert and I are on this journey together.

Supergirl.tv: How did you approach writing the 100th episode? Were there any key themes you wanted to hit?

Robert Rovner: Well, you know, I think we knew very early on when we were creating the theme central to this season that the friendship between Kara and Lena would be explored and we really, I think, knew from an early point this season, that we wanted to do something special for the hundredth and it would be an opportunity for us to kind of re-examine that friendship; if Kara under the guise of Kara had been able to tell her true identity at different points in time. So from there, we kind of went back to look at several of our favorite moments from their friendship. And to go back to those moments which allowed us to bring back some of our great cast members who had been with the show but have since left.

Supergirl.tv: Actually speaking of past cast members, you know, you've had some incredible cast and achievements like Jon Cryer as Lex Luthor, which is essentially character defining. What made you guys think to seek out Thomas Lennon for Mxyzptlk?

Jessica Queller: Well, we just are huge fans of his in general and it came up In the room, and it was like, my gosh, he would be our dream Mxy if he happened to be available. And then he was and it was just glorious. And just see, he is magic himself. And the script was so beautifully written and funny and delightful. And then he just brought it to another level.

Robert Rovner: And I think our idea to recast the role at all, you know, really was born out of wanting to reframe who this character was. You know, when he had been on the show earlier and [give him a chance to] redeem himself. He had kind of a much lighter presence, that could be an agent of our look back in time, as opposed to the kind of more imposing rogue that he was when he tried to force Kara to marry him.

Supergirl.tv: What are the challenges with making a show that has 100 episodes of history behind it versus say when you are developing a new show?

Robert Rovner: I think we always look back to inform what we're doing. But we're really always looking forward as writers and storytellers. It can be daunting, I think, to kind of, say, come up with new stories now. But the way we create the show and write the show, it's really our stories that kind of are organic to the character journeys that we're telling in the stories that we're trying to tell that reflect on what's going on in society. And so then, it really is surprisingly easy to kind of generate new story ideas.

Jessica Queller: Yeah, we just always keep looking forward and we keep looking at what's going on in the world around us. We, as writers, want to explore where our characters are currently in their development and what situations we would be interested in putting them in.

Supergirl.tv: There's a rich back story too to pull from.

Robert Rovner: I know that's what's wonderful about writing for a show like this because we have the cannon, which can inform so much and inspire us. And so there's always that kind of wealth to draw from. So whenever we do have an idea, we can always look back and see if there's something from our history or the show's history that informs that.

Supergirl.tv: The pairing of Supergirl and Batwoman airing on the same night and the friendship Kara and Kate seemed to have developed has a lot of us wondering if there are mini-crossovers in the works for those two?

Robert Rovner: There isn't one planned at this time, but we love Batwoman and Supergirl and it was lovely that Kara and Kate’s relationship was able to advance their friendship during the crossover. She's our sister in crime fighting. So we would love to be able to put them on the screen together.

Supergirl.tv: Actually just following up briefly on that, in a recent episode of Batwoman, Batwoman came out as a lesbian and Kara Danvers wrote the story. Are you guys consulted on those decisions?

Jessica Queller: We saw the image and approved it. We were excited about it.

Supergirl.tv: Since Crisis is over and Argo is restored, will Alura or Eliza make a return this season?

Robert Rovner: Eliza is coming back and we're very excited about that. Alura, we don't have further plans for her this season but we love that character. If we have an opportunity and the story takes us there, we would love to bring her back

Supergirl.tv: Are there any inside things you can tease about the 100th episode?

Robert Rovner: One of the things we're very proud of and that makes it special, we were able to do a live score for this episode. Blake Neely, our composer always makes magic but we really worked to make this score happen as a love letter to the fans, both with the specialness of the storytelling that we were trying to achieve, but also to add that layer to it was also very exciting.

Jessica Queller: All the writers went and it was such a special time.

We want to thank Jessica and Robert for their time! We hope you all enjoyed this look into Supergirl's 100th and the future! We'll also share with you images from the 100th episode party below:

Let us know what you think of the gallery and our interview in the comments below and in our forum! Keep us advertisement free and visit the support page!