Elizabeth Henstridge Finally Goes In Front Of 'Superman & Lois' Cameras To Play Lex Luthor’s Daughter
The 'Agents of SHIELD' alum directed two previous episodes of the CW series and has a third in the upcoming final season
We may never see the main cast of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD make present-day appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe again, we’re probably well past that point, but that doesn’t mean everyone has left the genre. Elizabeth Henstridge, who played Jemma Simmons on the series across all seven seasons, had started directing, including two episodes of Superman & Lois. Now it turns out she too is returning for its fourth and final season, not only to direct, but act.
Henstridge, who previously directed season two’s seventh episode, “Anti-Hero”, and season three’s second episode “Uncontrollable Forces”, will direct this season’s fifth episode, and being a ten-episode season makes it a position most similar to the former. She has also been cast as Lex Luthor’s daughter, whose name and debut episode has yet to be revealed. While how many episodes the character will appear in is unknown as well, it seems one of the focal points of Lex (played by promoted series regular Michael Cudlitz)’s story will be his fixation on reuniting with his daughter, who left as a teenager shortly after Lex was convicted of his crimes and began serving his jail sentence. Lex was finally released and thus made his first appearances at the end of the third season.
"I worked with her on Agents of SHIELD, and she's unbelievable," executive producer Brent Fletcher said. "She's an unbelievable actress and just the greatest person to work with. She is so nice and awesome at what she does. Our crew loves her, she loves our crew...we built it for her. She was the only person we ever went to with it." Fletcher added "We tried to give everybody a swan song this year. Like, 'What if you did that?' And she said yes."
Superman & Lois is clearly going for an original characterization for a Lex Luthor daughter, probably brought on by where these iterations of Superman and Lex are by this very seasoned point in their rivalry, a point not explored by previous adaptations. However it is worth acknowledging Lex does have a daughter in the comics, and he names her after his sister Lena, who had been killed by this point. Aunty’s Earth-Prime iteration was played rather popularly by Katie McGrath over five seasons of Supergirl. Introduced post-Crisis, Lex had done rather unconscionable things to her mother soon after she was born. Present-day Brainiac possesses her to avoid being deleted by his thirteenth iteration originating from the 64th century. Even still, Lex gives her up to Brainiac 13 in exchange for control of the technology that has greatly advanced Metropolis. During a later event called Our Worlds at War, she arrives aged up, ultimately siding with her father to defeat B-13 and Imperiex, which when they succeed returns her for infancy, leading to less frequent appearances. She stops appearing altogether after Lex loses the presidency, and, seeing as Our Worlds at War played out in mid-2001, does not exist in subsequent continuities.
Superman & Lois also stars Tyler Hoechlin as Clark Kent aka Superman, Bitsie Tulloch as Lois Lane, Alex Garfin as Jordan Kent, and Michael Bishop as Jonathan Kent. Shed series regulars Dylan Walsh as Sam Lane, Emmanuelle Chriqui as Lana Lang, Erik Valdez as Kyle Cushing, Inde Navarrette as Sarah Cortez, Wolé Parks as John Henry Irons, Tayler Buck as Natalie Irons, and Sofia Hasmik as Chrissy Beppo are all back at least in guest if not recurring capacities. Other new cast members include Yvonne Chapman as Amanda McCoy, who headed LuthorCorp in Lex’s absence, and Douglas Smith as Daily Planet colleague Jimmy Olsen. The series will have its full-night season premiere on Monday, October 7 on The CW, and will see Wranglers as its partner in the 9 PM timeslot the following week. Bar any breaks or subsequent two-episode nights, the episode Henstridge is directing should be airing on October 28. The series finale is therefore expected to air on December 2 under the same conditions.
Sources: ComicBook, Superman Wiki