Melissa Benoist And Calista Flockhart Have A Laugh At ‘Supergirl’ TCA Tour Panel

Melissa Benoist and Calista Flockhart spoke about their new TV series Supergirl during a panel discussion at the CBS portion of the 2015 Summer TCA Tour in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Monday.

Melissa Benoist & Calista Flockhart In ‘Supergirl’

Benoist stars in Supergirl as the titular superhero, who goes by the name Kara Danvers. Born Kara Zor-El, Supergirl was adopted by human parents after fleeing Krypton as a young girl. Now in her twenties, she’s decided it’s time to fully embrace her super powers, using them to protect mankind. According to Benoist, the more aggressive aspects of the character and her powers were a bit difficult for her to tackle.

“In my everyday life, I’ve always been such a pacifist,” Benoist admitted to Fox. “I grew up in a household full of women, and if you hit someone, it was a huge deal, even just a slap. The butt kicking is new. That’s a new muscle I’m flexing, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I liked it.”

“I’ve had to train quite a bit,” she added. “I’ve been training since the pilot and before. It’s challenging. It’s tiring. It’s a good thing, though. She’s got to be really, really tough and strong to show girls and anyone that you can overcome the things that you’re afraid of.”

When Kara isn’t dressed for superhero duty, she’s clad in button-downs and glasses working for media magnate Cat Grant, played by Flockhart. As shown in a clip released from Supergirl‘s upcoming debut season, it’s Cat that argues that Supergirl isn’t such a bad name – unknowingly talking to Supergirl herself.

The fact that the show went with Supergirl instead of Superwoman has something that’s been criticized ahead of the show’s premiere. However, executive producer Greg Berlanti said that it was a conscious decision to give the word “girl” some power and strength.

“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,” Berlanti told Entertainment Weekly. “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.”

Supergirl premieres Monday, Oct. 26 at 8:30 p.m. The one-hour show will move to its regular time slot starting the following week, Monday, November 2, airing at 8/7c.