Spoilers Supergirl - Season 3

[DigificWriter]

^ My broader point is that it bothers me that the actresses they cast don't look like the ages the characters are meant to be, especially when you compare them to Malina and Jordan, the actresses who played 13 and 114-year old Kara and Alex in Seasons 1 and 2 (even though both actresses themselves were 16 at the time).

To go from two actresses who were older but looked younger to two actresses who are older and look older is jarring for me.

Edit: I realized that I'd accidentally gave the wrong ages for Kara and Alex as we saw them in flashbacks in Seasons 1 and 2, and have fixed my mistake.

 

[The Realist]

They were plenty convincing to me for the ages they were playing. As noted, the mere fact that the actresses are actual teenagers at all puts it ahead of many if not most productions featuring teen characters.

 

[DigificWriter]

My personal issues with the casting of young Kara and Alex notwithstanding, Midvale was a fun episode filled with the heart that has always made the show what it is, plus the origins of "Supersisters", Superman legacy references, and both "Super Mom" Eliza and "Space Dad" J'onn, albeit as "Space Mom" Allura.

 

[Marc]

^ My broader point is that it bothers me that the actresses they cast don't look like the ages the characters are meant to be, especially when you compare them to Malina and Jordan, the actresses who played 14 and 15-year old Kara and Alex in Seasons 1 and 2 (even though both actresses themselves were 16 at the time).

To go from two actresses who were older but looked younger to two actresses who are older and look older is jarring for me.

The producers had two options - get actresses who match the ages or who are reasonable close in age but have a good resemblance to the leads.

I'll take the two actresses we got how turned in very good performaces and looked like Leigh and Benoist over two younger actresses who didn't closely resemble them and might have given a lesser performance.

 

[Christopher]

^ My broader point is that it bothers me that the actresses they cast don't look like the ages the characters are meant to be, especially when you compare them to Malina and Jordan, the actresses who played 14 and 15-year old Kara and Alex in Seasons 1 and 2 (even though both actresses themselves were 16 at the time).

Yeah, but you're claiming you can tell the difference between a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old, and if you actually believe that, you're fooling yourself. It's impossible to gauge someone's age to within a year just by looking at them.

Not to mention that, as I said, this is an extremely common practice in TV and film, so it's bizarre that you're talking about it as if you'd never seen it happen before. I think you're overreacting. The actresses they got were fantastic. I liked Malina Weissman, but Izabela Vidovic is far more convincing as young Kara than Weissman ever was -- for one thing, she actually has the right hair color. (Ironically, Weissman is now starring as Violet in Netflix's A Series of Unfortunate Events, and she bears quite a striking resemblance to Emily Browning, the actress who played Violet in the feature film version.)

 

[DigificWriter]

Malina and Jordan don't look exactly like Melissa and Chyler, and yet they were no less believable as the 13 and 14-year old versions of Kara and Alex, at least to me.

I ultimately liked what Izabela and Olivia bring to the roles; I just wish they looked a bit younger than I think they did here.

 

[Reverend]

Interesting how the episode managed to make homage to Smallville while at the same time totally avoiding a lot of the tropes of that show. By which I mean there was no "freak of the week" here, just a perv and a corrupt scumbag. AKA: real life monsters.

I know. I was honestly squinting at the screen trying to figure out if they were really different actresses or if the show show was somehow using CG trickery to de-age Melissa Benoist and Chyler Leigh.

Same here. It was almost eerie how closely they managed to cast the pair of them. I'm not sure, but I thought in a few shots it looked like the one playing young Kara might have been wearing contact lenses, but that's about it.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Malina and Jordan don't look exactly like Melissa and Chyler, and yet they were no less believable as the 13 and 14-year old versions of Kara and Alex, at least to me.

I ultimately liked what Izabela and Olivia bring to the roles; I just wish they looked a bit younger than I think they did here.

Was it that much of a problem? When dealing with casting younger versions, its never going to be perfect. The goal is to sell a believable version that supports the overall character arc of younger and older self. That was accomplished.

 

[DigificWriter]

^ It bothered me, but ultimately didn't affect my overall enjoyment of the episode, and I only brought it up because it was on my mind.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

The last episode was amazing. That was one fantastic flashback, and the actresses that played young Kara and Alex Danvers did a spectacular job. I liked them and their interactions better than their adult counterparts, and they did such a convincing job at being true to their character – especially Alex – that I was astonished. I hate when an actor changes (I still can't get used to the change of Laura Benanti), so I... didn't expect this to work, and I certainly didn't expect Alex to be so convincingly Alex from the first breakfast scene.

 

[Christopher]

I hate when an actor changes (I still can't get used to the change of Laura Benanti)

That's got me wondering -- how many Arrowverse characters have been recast? Not counting child versions, of course, or characters with a different actor doing the voice to conceal their identity (e.g. Zoom, Savitar, or Prometheus). Other than Alura, the only one I can think of is Sara Lance, who was played by Jacqueline MacInnes Wood in the Arrow pilot, and of course by Caity Lotz afterward. Oh, and arguably Linda Park, although I'm not convinced that the TV reporter "Linda Park" played by Olivia Cheng in Barry's debut storyline on Arrow is the same person as the newspaper sports writer Linda Park played by Malese Jow later on. (I still think it would've been funny if they'd gotten the Star Trek: Enterprise actress Linda Park to play the Flash character Linda Park.)

 

[Kirk Prime]

The best casting I had ever seen for a younger version of a character for flashback purposes was on Once Upon A Time. They cast an actress that looked a hell of a lot like Ginny Goodwin and just captured the mannerisms perfectly.

In this episode, I thought the actors did great jobs as well. If I'm right, Maggie leaving the show as a regular will be the best thing to happen to Supergirl. It will mirror when Lana left Smallville.

 

[Dick Whitman]

You are right, Arrowverse rarely recasts. Usually if actors are unavailable they stop using the characters instead. I wish they would recast sometimes though. Wildcat on Arrow in particular. They stopped using the character when that actor got cast as a regular on another show. But he was poorly cast to begin with. I would have no problem if they recast or rebooted the character in someway.

 

[Christopher]

Yeah... I imagine the only reason they recast Alura is because they needed her for the season's storyline (I think the comics' version of Reign has some link to Alura) and couldn't get Laura Benanti. Otherwise they probably would've just stopped featuring the character. They were able to recast Sara because she was such a minor character in her original appearance, only there for a scene or two.

 

[dahj]

because, in the present, they're 25 and 26,

They're 27 and 28, actually.

 

[DigificWriter]

They're 27 and 28, actually.

No, they're not.

The flashbacks take place 10 years before Season 3, and Kara is 15 during them. Add 10 to 15 and you get 25.

And Alex is about a year-ish older than Kara, making her around 26 in Season 3 and 16 in the flashbacks.

 

[dahj]

^^
Alex literally said "I'm 28" sometime last season.

I don't know which episode but I remember it because I said "Yeah, that's what I tell people too."

 

[DigificWriter]

^ Then somebody in the Supergirl writer's room isn't paying attention to the chronology and keeps rewriting history.

 

[Dick Whitman]

The Arrowverse Wikia entry for the episode says it should have said "12 years ago" based on the characters ages. Not 10 years. I read this early today before seeing this discussion of the mistake. http://arrow.wikia.com/wiki/Midvale

I would guess the writers created a timeline based on the flashbacks happening 10 years before the Pilot. Forgetting the need to add 2 more years for when the show currently is.

 

[DigificWriter]

The flashbacks happening 10 years before the Pilot wouldn't be accurate, though, either, because Kara is 24 in the Pilot and Alex is supposed to be 26.

See, now I've gotten the characters ' ages all confused myself. Grrrrrrrrrr.