‘Supergirl’ SDCC Interview: Chyler Leigh Previews Alex Balancing Motherhood & the DEO in Season 4

If there’s one thing we know about Alex Danvers, it’s that she goes after what she wants. And what we know that she wants in the near future is to be a mother. It was a storyline that was criticized, yet it was one of my favorite aspects about Supergirl last season. Getting to see a badass like Alex accept what she wants and go after it, it was empowering.
“When that story came up, it came up at a fragile time,” Chyler Leigh told us during a roundtable interview at San Diego Comic-Con. “We had to establish kind of quickly, in some ways. But in other ways, Alex has always had that motherly quality. She’s always had that about her, obviously with Kara. That’s how she’s kind of raised her in some ways. And even with Winn and caring and being so loving. She’s ferocious when it comes to the people that she loves. So figuring out what that looks like now, especially in this position, it’s going to be interesting because you can’t carry about a baby in a bullet-proof baby Bjorn.”
With that said, Alex still very much wants to be a mom, as we saw in the season finale. What it comes down to, for her, is the timing and logistics of it all. But it’s no doubt that this is something that she wants. If it happens this year, great. If it happens next year, great. When it does happen, Alex will be ready and excited about the future.
“But it is part of what she wants in the future,” Leigh said. “I think it was done well in the scene with Alex and J’onn, where he hands it over to her. And she’s come in like, ‘I think I need to step back for a minute and evaluate.’ But he gives her this great opportunity to be able to kind of call it on her own terms. Who knows how soon that will happen?”
But in the meantime, Alex finds herself the new head of the DEO, after J’Onn passed over the reins in the season finale. With J’Onn gone and Winn gone, Alex will have to acclimate to a new work environment, which is a nice nod to reality in general. Sometimes, people move away and you’re forced to adapt to new circumstances. Yet while Alex finds herself minus her safety nets, she’s confident in herself.
“Something that I really wanted to make sure when she walked into the season, she’s walking in as confidently as possible without having her own baby bumpers, like J’Onn and Winn, the people that are there to help her figure things out. There’s a lot of that dynamic that’s going to be coming up in different ways.”
Watch our interview with Leigh below, where she talks about her love for the cast and more:

Supergirl season 4 premieres Sunday, Oct. 14 at 8/7c on The CW.