Supergirl Season 3: Who is Reign?

At the end of the Supergirl season 2 finale, we were teased with a flashback to Krypton’s destruction, as a cultlike group sent a mysterious baby to Earth, promising it would “reign.” It was soon revealed that wasn’t just a turn of phrase, but that the Supergirl Season 3 villain is, in fact, Reign, a character created by Michael Green, Mike Johnson, and Mahmud Asrar who has made a handful of appearances in recent DC Comics.

The Reign of the comics is one of five genetically engineered “Worldkillers” and she’s the one who first reveals the fate of Kara’s homeworld to her. She tries to enlist Kara in her plans to conquer Earth, but as you might expect, Kara is having none of it. There’s really not much else to say about this story (which you can find in Supergirl: Last Daughter of Krypton), and the character didn’t make many more appearances in the comics, which should leave lots of room for interpretation when she makes it to TV, where she’ll be played by Odette Annable. We spoke with Ms. Annable as well as executive producers Robert Rovner and Jessica Queller during roundtable interviews at San Diego Comic-Con, and they told us a little bit about what to expect from the Supergirl Season 3 villain.

“We think [Reign] is a villain unlike any we’ve ever had on Supergirl in the past,” executive producer Robert Rovner says, “She comes with a very specific agenda.”

“Reign is a Worldkiller,” Odette Annable says. “She was bio-engineered in a lab, she was sent to Earth from Krypton much like Kara and Clark. She’s different than any other villain that you’ll see on Supergirl in a way that she has her own agenda. She’s not out to kill everybody. She’s not out to rule the Earth. Her reasons for dispensing justice are very specific and you’ll see that story unfold throughout the season.”

Right there that already sounds fairly different from the Reign of the comics, who was a relatively one-note (albeit high-powered) villain. To be perfectly honest, Reign’s comic book story wasn’t one that could sustain an entire season of TV, but it looks like the show is going to show a very different side of the villain. And they’re starting with her costume.

Since Reign has only made a handful of comic book appearances, the producers and Ms. Annable have a tremendous amount of freedom in terms of creating her for the screen. “I do know that we will, in terms of look, the costume’s not going to be the same—she wears basically nothing in the comics—so I’m very grateful for that,” Annable says. “You know, I’d rather not be in hours and hours of makeup. If we were going to try to match what’s in the comics, that would be the case. So we’re doing our own spin on things, much like what they do on the other shows, which is really nice.”

Check out Reign’s TV look…

“I hope [the audience] is going to be endeared to her a little bit,” Annable says. “It’s always nice to resonate with a villain…you might not side with them, but maybe you can see why they do what they do. Hopefully, that will be the case with Reign as well. We’ve got a whole season to tell this story, so I’m particularly excited about sharing this heartbreaking tale. It really will be powerful and strong, and I think she’s going to be one of Supergirl’s greatest matches. She’s not just, ‘I’m bad and I want to kill everybody.’ She’s got a reason why she’s doing it. I think that’s what fans will find really different and hopefully really like.”

“We’re diving deeper into this villain than we have with the other ones,” Robert Rovner promises, perhaps alluding to how much freedom they have to create this character because of the relative scarcity of her source material.

Executive producer Jessica Queller says that “the central question of Supergirl Season 3 is what does it mean to be human” and that question will be posed “to every main charactre including Reign.” She also teases that “Reign is going to have an unexpected connection with Lena Luthor.”

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