SUPERGIRL Casts Maggie Sawyer & Snapper Carr

Supergirl's Season 2 cast is coming together.

The Hollywood Reporter revealed that the new-to-CW series Supergirl has cast Floriana Lima in the role of DC Comics character Maggie Sawyer.

According to the article, Maggie is described as "a detective for the National City Police Department who takes a special interest in the cases involving aliens."

Lima is probably best known as Rosa "Ro" Quintero on the TV series Mob Doctor, and has appeared in episodes of The Family, Allegiance, Psych, Hawaii Five-O, House M.D., Ghost Whisperer, How I Met Your Mother, and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Created in 1987 by John Byrne, Maggie Sawyer first appeared in Superman (vol.2) #4 as the head of the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit, a special branch of the Metropolis police force that handles superpowered menaces when Superman is unavailable.  Maggie mostly replaced Inspector Henderson from the previous comics as Superman's main police contact.  Later stories revealed that she originally came from Star City, and was married to another police officer until she realized she was a lesbian.  The two had one daughter named Jamie.

Maggie later transferred to Gotham City's police force as the head of the Major Crimes Unit, and was a significant character in the comic Gotham Central.  After the DC Universe was relaunched with The New 52 continuity, Maggie appeared as a supporting character in the new Batwoman series launched in 2011.  In that series, she has begun dating Kate Kane, whose secret activities as Batwoman complicated their relationship.  They had first met when Maggie, as a Metropolis police officer, arrived in Gotham as backup support for an arriving hurricane.  Kane later revealed her identity as Batwoman by proposing to her in costume in Batwoman #17.  The recent DC Rebirth relaunch revealed that Maggie has transferred back to Metropolis.

In addition, Entertainment Weekly reported that Ian Gomez has been cast as Snapper Carr, who is described as "a headstrong, sharp-witted newsman, hired by Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart) to be the editor-in-chief of CatCo Magazine.  Snapper’s commitment to hard-hitting journalism pushes CatCo reporters to dig deeper in the pursuit of excellence.  He’s a man who tells people what he thinks of them, and his no-holds barred approach pushes Kara (Melissa Benoist) in unexpected ways."

Gomez, 51, is probably best known as Andy Torres on Cougar Town and has appeared in the two My Big Fat Greek Wedding movies.  He's also appeared on episodes of Drop Dead Diva, Touch, Grey's Anatomy, Reaper, Heroes, Lost, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Norm Show, Felicity, Murphy Brown, and Married...with Children.

Created in 1960 by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky, Lucas "Snapper" Carr first appeared in The Brave and the Bold (vol.1) #28 as a teenager who helps the Justice League of America face the threat of Starro, a giant alien starfish with mind-control powers. Snapper, who was spreading lime on his family's lawn, was unaffected by Starro when the alien took mental control of the population of Happy Harbor, Rhode Island.  Members of the Justice League realized that Starro could be incapacitated using lime, and the alien was defeated.

The character's origin was later reworked in the maxi-series JLA: Year One, where an alien race known as the Appellaxians conspired with a new criminal organization, Locus, to take over Earth.  Snapper's uncle, Simon Carr, was the contact person for an ultra-wealthy individual (later revealed to be Oliver Queen) who wished to financially support the Justice League in its mission.  Simon introduced the League to college student and genius inventor Ted Kord (who is also the superhero Blue Beetle), who provided them with some technology, and to his nephew, Snapper.  Snapper played a critical role in alerting the League to the Appellaxian attack on Earth.  He deduced that his uncle had been possessed by the Appellaxian leader, and had the League defeat Simon and then free him from alien control.

The character occasionally appeared in comics featuring the Justice League from 1969 to 1989, when the Invasion! limited series gave him the ability to teleport whenever he snapped his fingers.  He was associated with a new superhero team, The Blasters, in various comics until 1993, when he lost his powers and became a main character in the series Hourman.  After the cancellation of Hourman, he became a main character in Young Justice, and then he became associated with the governmental organization Checkmate, a role revealed when the character played a small but important role in the limited series 52 Aftermath: The Four Horsemen.

Supergirl will return on The CW for Season 2 on October 10th, 2016 at 8:00 p.m. EST.