Introducing: Supergirl

Everyone knows the legend of Clark Kent and his secret identify of Superman. But not everyone knows the legend of Kara Zor-El, Superman’s cousin, otherwise known as Supergirl.

In the new CBS series based on the DC Comics character, a pre-teen Kara Zor-El (Melissa Benoist from Glee) left the ready-to-implode planet Krypton at the insistence of her mother Alura (Laura Benanti from Nashville) nearly at the same time as her then baby cousin Kal-El.

Unfortunately, as Kara’s ship rocketed into space, the exploding planet launched her off course and straight into the Phantom Zone. Many years later, her ship is knocked out of the zone and straight to Earth where her cousin – who she was supposed to protect – is now an adult but she is still a pre-teen.

Kara is then taken by her cousin to a trusted family, who adopt her as their own [cameo roles of the parents to be played by former Supergirl film star Helen Slater and former Clark Kent Dean Cain], growing up with an older sister Alex (Chyler Leigh from Grey’s Anatomy) and spending the next 12 years hiding her powers.

As an adult, Kara is an under-paid and under-appreciated personal assistant to narcissistic media mogul Cat Grant, CEO of CatCo Worldwide Media (Calista Flockhart of Ally McBeal and Brothers & Sisters fame). Kara – much like her cousin Clark – hides herself behind glasses and a clumsy persona, but when her sister’s life is in grave danger because the plane she is on is ready to crash, Kara uses her superhuman powers and becomes an overnight sensation. The only saving grace is that her identity was obscured and the world does not know what she looks like.

With the help of her co-worker, Winslow “Winn” Schott (Jeremy Jordan from Smash), who Kara shares her secret with, they create her suit – very similar to the one worn by her cousin – and she takes on the persona of Supergirl.

Along the way she learns an unexpected truth about her sister, encounters her sister’s boss the mysterious Hank Henshaw (David Harewood from Homeland), meets the one and only James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks from True Blood), who has left the Daily Planet to come work at CatCo Worldwide Media and learns that the other “inhabitants” of the Phantom Zone made it to Earth much like she did all those years ago.

Supergirl will debut on CBS this Monday, October 26 at 8:30/7:30c.

Here is the first look trailer for Supergirl: