Calista Flockhart Moving From Series Regular To Recurring Role On Supergirl
Calista Flockhart has downgraded her role as CatCo owner Cat Grant on Supergirl, from ‘series regular’ to a ‘recurring guest star’ when the show returns in the Autumn. We had previously speculated this would be the case, when it was announced the show would be switching US networks from CBS to The CW, and moving production from LA to Vancouver, Canada.
Flockhart is very selective in the roles she chooses, as her family is based in Los Angeles, and quite understandably, she doesn’t want to uproot them every time she gets a job offer, so only chooses roles based in the city. This was fine for Supergirl’s first season, but with the network change and the show looking to cut down it’s costs, it makes far more sense to move production up north where the other 3 CW/DC Berlantiverse shows already film.
The deal the actress has struck with Supergirl’s producers would see her fly up to Vancouver every few weeks to shoot multiple blocks of script for various episodes over a few days. This will allow the character to be scattered throughout the series, without Flockhart needing to move north for the entire shooting schedule. It’s a good compromise for both sides, with exec producer Andrew Kreisberg commenting “Supergirl wouldn’t be Supergirl without the amazing Calista Flockhart as Cat Grant. We are so excited Calista has agreed to continue on the show when she can. We and the audience love to see her on screen.”
Whether this will be sustainable in the long term, or if it will see the producers tweak the plot to reduce her role further over the course of the second series, remains to be seen.
Personally, I’m glad she has decided to return. Cat Grant is a wonderfully entertaining character, and was given, hands down, the best line of the first season:
“You look like the attractive yet non threatening racially diverse cast of a CW show.”
Supergirl will return to Sky 1 in the Autumn.
