Jon Cryer to return as Lex Luthor for Arrowverse crossover

UPDATED: We haven’t seen the last of Jon Cryer’s Lex Luthor on Supergirl.

Cryer will return as the megalomaniacal criminal mastermind in the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover coming later this year. This isn’t terribly surprising because, although Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath) killed her brother in the season 4 finale, the Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) showed up and did something to the body in the final moments of the episode.

“We’re excited to have you back,” co-showrunner Jessica Queller said of the character during the CW superhero drama’s panel. “Hopefully you’ll stick around after that. You need to be nicer to your sister.”

Furthermore, Jesse Rath, who plays Brainiac 5, revealed that his sister Meaghan Rath will appear as a female version of Brainiac 5. “You can’t talk about Brainy without talking about his family, and so I thought similarly, you can’t talk about me without talking about my family. So, my real-life sister will be joining the show, Meaghan Rath, who will be playing a female Brainiac 5,” said Rath. “[This is] something I’ve been pitching since I was cast.”

EARLIER: Supergirl is introducing another DC Comics character in season 5.

The CW superhero drama has cast new series regular Julie Gonzalo (Veronica Mars) as Andrea Rojas, a.k.a. Acrata. In the comics, she’s a vigilante who hails from Central America and specifically targets organized crime. On Supergirl, Andrea is a polished businesswoman and heir to a Central American tech empire who is now making a hostile advance into the world of media (Uh-oh, what does that mean for CatCo?). Of course, there’s a twist: “She also holds a mystical secret,” reads the official character description, which confirms she’ll be introduced in the season 5 premiere.

The addition of Rojas seems in line with season 5’s theme of technology and how it affects us. When EW spoke to showrunners Robert Rovner and Jessica Queller, they referred to the forthcoming batch of episodes as their “Black Mirror season.”

“What we’re looking at is how technology is impacting the way people engage and giving them an escape not to engage,” Rovner previously told EW. “It seems like nowadays, everyone is kind of on their phones or not really present, and so we wanted to speak to that and kind of how it might be hard to live in the ugliness of what’s going on, and how a character like Kara can try and help us overcome that. It speaks to a lot of the stuff the characters will be going through.”

Gonzalo isn’t the only new addition to Supergirl‘s cast. Staz Nair, who played one of Daenerys’ Dothraki warriors on Game of Thrones, has been cast in the series regular role of William Dey, an original character created for the show. A hardened reporter, Dey is “a cynic and a sellout who looks down on Kara’s earnest idealism” and is only interested in getting the story. However, “his ties to the criminal underworld could prove problematic.” Like Gonzalo, Nair will make his debut in the season opener.

During Supergirl‘s Saturday panel at San Diego Comic-Con, the cast and producers also unveiled a new and official look at the Girl of Steel brand new super suit (Pants!), which was conceptualized by Supergirl costume designer Victoria Auth and created by Ironhead Studios and Bill Hargates Costumes. Check it out below:

Supergirl returns Sunday, Oct. 6 at 9 p.m. on The CW.

Additional reporting by Marc Snetiker

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• Brandon Routh returns as Superman for Crisis on Infinite EarthsArrowverse crossover