Supergirl Star on That Surprise Guest, What's Next for Alex and Kelly

Andy Swift

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Kelly Olsen found herself a little too close to the action on Sunday’s Supergirl, forcing her to make a difficult (but necessary) decision to ensure everyone’s safety.

Disguised as an old friend (played by special guest star Sean Astin!), Malefic tricked Kelly into helping him access his latent mind-control powers, inadvertently linking his brain to hers. As a precaution, James agreed to take Kelly out of town until J’onn’s loose-cannon brother is apprehended.

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Speaking of J’onn, he enlisted Nia’s assistance in recovering his own lost memories, which turned out to be more heartbreaking than he anticipated. It turns out he’s the reason no one remembers Malefic; M’yrnn felt so guilty about abandoning (and thereby failing) Malefic that he nearly resigned as leader, forcing J’onn to step in and erase his father’s pain.

Meanwhile, Lena began her great exploitation of Kara with a loyalty test. She coerced her super friend into retrieving Lex’s old journals under the guise that they would help bring her closure, when she really needed them to proceed in her research.

Below, Azie Tesfai (aka Kelly) breaks down this week’s biggest developments:

TVLINE | OK, let’s start with Sean Astin. What a great guest! How familiar were you with his work when he came on board?
Well, I knew who he was, obviously. Melissa [Benoist] is his biggest fan, so I felt guilty that I got to do all of his scenes with him, so I planned a cast drinking thing afterwards for everybody to meet him. He’s the most magical unicorn of a person, and we shot all of our scenes in one day, so we had a full experience. Supergirl is his daughter’s favorite show, so he’s seen every episode, which is remarkable. He was referencing things that blew my mind. He just loves it. He was a light that came onto the set and was so much fun to work with. And he’s such a nice guy, which is what made the character work. At first, I was like, ‘Why would Kelly just help this guy she hasn’t seen in a long time?’ Then I heard Sean was playing him, and I was like, “Oh, well, we’d all help him.”

TVLINE | Given the outcome of that experience, do you think Kelly will be less likely to offer her help in the future?
I definitely think this experience was jarring for her, but Kelly’s core is light and hope and kindness and empathy, so I don’t think there’s ever going to be a world where someone is in need and Kelly doesn’t help them. It’s who she is, and it’s what I love about her. I think she may have a little more awareness, but I think she’ll always return to her core. It’s awesome that, in this world where there’s so much darkness, you have a character who keeps believing in the good of humanity.

TVLINE | I think that’s what makes her so perfect for Alex. What are you enjoying about that relationship?
It’s such a mature, adult relationship. They communicate really well. I always say that I wish everyone could have an Alex-Kelly relationship in their life. They’re so steady and compassionate with one another. They’ve both experienced a lot of trauma, and the way they relate to each other is really beautiful. Unhealthy behavior in relationships makes for good TV, but the writers made a conscious choice that these two women would have an exemplary relationship in terms of how they help each other. I think that’s really important.

TVLINE | How are they going to handle that relationship temporarily becoming long-distance?
You’ll see this season that big events happen, and they very much bring the relationship to a deeper level. We really see them learn more about each other and more about themselves. And even though Jimmy and Kelly are leaving town, we’ll still see where they go. The Olsens’ upcoming storyline is very interesting and important, and you’ll learn a lot more about them as siblings and as individuals.

TVLINE | Lastly, which character would benefit the most from a sit-down with Kelly?
[Laughs] I think Lena could do with some serious therapy. Katie [McGrath] is one of my best friends, and even though we only had one scene together in the premiere, we tried to make a meal out of it, which drove everyone crazy. We really want Kelly and Lena to have a storyline together, so we were doing all these strange things like touching each other on the shoulder and winking inappropriately. Like, weird things that we were hoping might establish something. When you watch scenes with Kelly and Lena, you’re really seeing Azie and Katie. Kelly also wasn’t a part of keeping that secret from Lena, so there’s real trust there.

Your thoughts on this week’s Supergirl? Hopes for the coming weeks? Whatever’s on your mind, drop it in a comment below.

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