During the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour, ‘Supergirl’ executive producers Greg Berlanti, Ali Adler and Andrew Kreisberg revealed more details and announced that they will be introducing a lot of new characters from the DC Comics world in the first nine episodes.

CBS President Nina Tassler spoke on crossovers with The Flash and Arrow this fall. Nina Tassler told the TCA audience, We have not had conversations about [storyline] crossovers between Supergirl and The CW’s, Arrow and The Flash, but we are doing crossover promotions. So you will see promotional crossovers, but not in terms of the characters.

The producers revealed that Superman will be a big factor in Supergirl’s life. “but you won’t see him onscreen,” said DC Entertainment chief creative officer Geoff Johns. “He does play a part in her evolution in becoming Supergirl.”

“As much as we respect the history of Superman, it’s very much [Kara/Supergirl’s] point of view,” added co-showrunner Ali Adler. “Superwoman is a different character,” she explained, settling the debate on why the show was called ‘Supergirl’ instead of ‘Superwoman.’

“We knew going in that Supergirl might imply a younger audience, but we felt we could take a powerful word back and participate in introducing that to a new generation and say that doesn’t just mean young or inconsequential.” executive producer Greg Berlanti added. “It should be strong and bold. That was our goal. One of the blessings of what we get to do is to introduce it to a new generation and that means changing key elements of the character and still keeping true to the core DNA of the character.”

“The tendency with Superman is to make him so powerful that there isn’t any danger. Week in and week out, you want to feel like Supergirl may not survive these things,” Kreisberg weighed in.

Calista Flockhart calls the series a “real celebration of girl power.” She went on to say that she “was attracted to the show because I think it’s a great show for moms and daughters to watch together. There’s a real family aspect and I just think that Cat knows that already: I’m a girl and I’m awesome and I’m not gonna apologize for that.”

During the TCA panel, Berlanti addressed the criticism of the series, negative reactions to Kara’s Supergirl costume and the casting of Mehcad Brooks as Jimmy Olsen.

“We experience it with any show we introduce. What’s interesting to us is we have a similar formula for all shows,” Berlanti explained. “[When we revealed] the costume for the Green Arrow, there was initial conversation about that. It’s a healthy dialogue — anything that gets people talking about the show in this environment and gets people to check it out.”

“People have so much passion for this kind of genre, and they’re adapting to this lifestyle. It’s a win no matter what.” added Geoff Johns.

Photo via Supergirl.tv

In addition to Lucy Lane, Livewire and Reactron, they’re introducing Red Tornado, Non, and General Lane (General Lane is Lucy and Lois’ father).

Synopsis:

SUPERGIRL is an action-adventure drama based on the DC Comics character Kara Zor-El (Melissa Benoist), Superman’s (Kal-El) cousin who, after 12 years of keeping her powers a secret on Earth, decides to finally embrace her superhuman abilities and be the hero she was always meant to be. Twelve-year-old Kara escaped the doomed planet Krypton with her parents’ help at the same time as the infant Kal-El. Protected and raised on Earth by her foster family, the Danvers, Kara grew up in the shadow of her foster-sister, Alex (Chyler Leigh), and learned to conceal the phenomenal powers she shares with her famous cousin in order to keep her identity a secret.

Years later at 24, Kara lives in National City assisting media mogul and fierce taskmaster Cat Grant (Golden Globe Award winner Calista Flockhart), who just hired the Daily Planet’s former photographer, James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks), as her new art director. However, Kara’s days of keeping her talents a secret are over when Hank Henshaw (David Harewood), head of a super-secret agency where her sister also works, enlists her to help them protect the citizens of National City from sinister threats. Though Kara will need to find a way to manage her newfound empowerment with her very human relationships, her heart soars as she takes to the skies as Supergirl to fight crime.

Stars: Melissa Benoist as Supergirl, Mehcad Brooks as Jimmy Olsen and Lauren Benanti as Kara/Alura Zor-El, Calista Flockhart as Cat Grant, Chyler Leigh as Alexandra “Alex” Danvers, Jeremy Jordan as Winslow “Winn” Schott, David Harewood as Hank Henshaw, Dean Cain, Helen Slater, Peter Facinelli as Maxwell Lord, and Jenna Dewan-Tatum as Lucy Lane.

‘Supergirl’ will premiere on October 26th at 8:30-9:30pm before it moves to its primetime 8-9pm time slot on November 2nd.