Jon Cryer Talks Bringing His Version of Lex Luthor To Life In SUPERGIRL

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[DISCLAIMER: Small spoilers for the March 17th episode of Supergirl “O Brother, Where Art Thou”]

Jon Cryer made his debut as Lex Luthor on Supergirl last night and woah man. He was fantastic. Variety did an interview with Cryer and he talks about playing the ‘sociopath’ Lex Luthor. He said this about his character’s relationship with his sister, Lena(Katie ).

“Lex is a sociopath, but he does have a link he can’t break with her, and also, to some degree, he gets she has an incredible gift as an intellect and a scientist. His narcissism kicks in, and he can find that to love about her: ‘She’s like me.’ He understands she’s a formidable person, and his really twisted family history does come into play.”

Cryer didn’t know how far the script would go, he took the role in November of last year before seeing any major details. One of the show runners, Jessica Queller gave him small details of what would go on during his three episode arc on Supergirl. Cryer said those details are what drew him to accept the role. Cryer said playing the deception of Lena “was interestingly, tricky Lena knows he’s a sociopath”. So he has to play the role differently, let some of the awful come through, in order to get her to work with him. I have seen the episode, and he deceives Lena so well. Queller complimented Cryer’s performance, saying he would keep building the scheme and playing the role in different ways.

Lex Luthor’s backstory over the past couple of years will be covered in the March 24 episode, “The House of L”. It will be flashback heavy, and based on the preview, we might finally see a confrontation between Kara and her clone. The episode finished up with Lex Luthor facing Kara head-on, and while some may be expecting Kara to call in her cousin, Tyler Hoechlin will not be returning to Supergirl this season. So the Girl of Steel is on her own. It’ll be interesting to watch the confrontation next week! Cryer does say the fight is too short, but he did “geek out” during filming.

“We did one of the shots where Melissa lands on the roof [of the Daily Planet], and she has the Beyonce fan blowing her hair, and I got chills,” — “It’s so beautifully done.”

Cryer will return for the season 4 finale of Supergirl as homage to his original Luthor role (Lenny Luthor in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace). Beyond that though, is unknown. The second show runner Robert Rovner did say this: “We love Jon Cryer and we love Lex Luthor, so if given the opportunity [we’d have him back]”.

When asked about his character’s issue with aliens, he did have this to say.

“He includes her [Supergirl] among the alien hordes that are destroying Earth,” — “To some degree…I do believe if humanity was faced with super-powered aliens, it would be deeply threatening. I don’t see he’s completely wrong— except the sociopath part…But that’s also part of his intellect and narcissism. We are threatened by this, what do we do about it? These are the steps. And in the bigger picture, if it kills millions of people, there will be plenty more millions. We’ve got billions.”

Cryer’s did an absolute fantastic job in the role of Lex Luthor. I hope we get to see more of him. I would go so far as to want him back every episode the rest of the season. I’ve been really disappointed with Supergirl this season, but “O Brother, Where Art Thou” has been the best episode the show has had in quite awhile.

Did you like Cryer as Lex Luthor? Let us know in the comments below, and stay tuned for all your Supergirl news and reviews here.

SOURCE: Variety