Lex Luthor Is Coming to The CW’s SUPERGIRL Later This Season

There’s a new Luthor coming to National City. THR reports that The CW’s Supergirl has begun a casting search for an actor to play Lex Luthor as part of the show’s recently started fourth season. With Superman already having appeared on the show, and Lois Lane set to make her debut during the “Elseworlds” crossover last this year, it makes sense that the biggest baddie of them all isn’t far behind.

Lex is a character who, despite only having appeared once in a flashback, has loomed large on Supergirl. Lex’s sister, Lena Luthor (played by Katie McGrath), has been a regular character on the series since the second season. In the series continuity Lex has been imprisoned for his crimes, and Lena steps in to run and attempt to reform LuthorCorp, bristling against the stigma that comes with the Luthor name. Though she’s done some morally questionable things in the past, Lena hasn’t done anything outright evil that we’ve seen, and her struggle with the dark side of being a Luthor is a central element of her character. Lena is good friends with Kara Danvers, and has aided Supergirl on more than one occasion, though their relationship became strained toward the end of season 3 when it was revealed that Lena had been synthesizing Kryptonite in case of an alien invasion.

Lex and Lena’s mother, Lillian Luthor (actress Brenda Strong), has also had a recurring role on the show as the leader of Cadmus, a nefarious research facility with a strong anti-alien agenda. An imprisoned Lillian was last seen in the recent season 4 premiere, where Lena tricked her into revealing incriminating information on a former ‘business associate’ of Lex’s—information which Lena then leveraged to get the D.A. to drop charges against her boyfriend, James Olsen, who revealed himself at the end of last season as secretly being the vigilante known as The Guardian.

As mentioned, Lex has appeared on Supergirl once before, in a childhood flashback of Lena’s, in which he was played by actor Aidan Fink. Adult Lex has been portrayed numerous times in live action, including on the small screen by actors Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville), John Shea (Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman), and Sherman Howard (Superboy). The character’s role on present-day Supergirl is unclear, though he’s sure to be a thorn in Supergirl and Lena’s sides. With President Marston (Lynda Carter) having been revealed to the world as an alien in the most recent episode, perhaps a run at the White House is in Lex’s future?

Supergirl airs Sundays at 8PM Eastern on The CW.