Supergirl‘s Melissa Benoist Announces Pregnancy — Will It Affect Season 6?
Supergirl star Melissa Benoist delivered some super news of her own on Wednesday: She is expecting her first child with husband Chris Wood.
The couple — who also worked together on Supergirl during Wood’s stint as Mon-El — made the announcement with a cheerful Instagram photo. “A non-canine child is coming to our family very soon!!!” Benoist wrote. “@christophrwood has always been an old dad by nature but now he’s going to be a real one!”
It’s not yet clear if Benoist’s pregnancy will affect production on Supergirl‘s current fifth season, which will conclude in the spring, or the previously announced Season 6. TVLine has reached out to The CW and Warner Bros. Television for comment.
Benoist and Wood have been married since September 2019. Though Wood is no longer a regular cast member on Supergirl, he did recently return as Mon-El for the show’s 100th episode. Next up, he’ll star in ABC’s thirtysomething sequel, which has received a pilot order.
Congratulations! So happy for them :)
Congratulations to Melissa and Chris! Just don’t put a pregnant Supergirl in the show. Hide it, delay production but no magical or alien baby please!
what do u have against magic and alien babies?
But, a magical / mystical pregnancy worked so well on Xena: Warrior Princess … NOT!
I vote that they “hide it” by having Alex somehow acquire Supergirl’s powers, leaving the non-powered Kara to help out behind the scenes and focus on her journalism career while Alex becomes the public superhero of National City. Maybe they can use some of the ideas from the Superwoman storyline in the comics, except without Lucy Lane of course.
Anyone but Alex, please! How about Mia instead, a young superhero who would be finding her way. Or expand the episodes of Superman and Lois. Please though not turn it into the Alex show.
Don’t be such a misogynist Alan.
When you use the term misogynist that way, you make the word meaningless.
Nia? I feel like Supergirl has already really rushed Nia’s superhero journey from discovering she had precognitive powers to suddenly transforming into a major badazz wielding “dream energy” weapons. I guess they could take a step back and try to start over, but I’m not sure that would make a lot of sense. Maybe Nia could be one of Alex’s mentors?
I feel like Supergirl hasn’t been the Alex show in a long time. It started with a good balance between Kara and Alex, but they’ve both had to share screen time with an ever expanding cast of characters. I wouldn’t mind if J’onn / Martian Manhunter got increased screen time too, but they just don’t seem to have the CGI budget to do justice to his “natural” green martian appearance or his numerous superpowers.
I agree. I want SuperAlex.
That would actually be something interesting to see, with Kara blocked in the Phantom zone/in a coma/ etc.
Maybe cut the episode order, and give the timeslot to the Superman and Lois spinoff during her time away?
Could be. She would be due late summer or early fall, right? Given the nature of the show. Maybe hold Supergirl to January, and place Superman and Lois in the fall slot. The rest of this season can be managed. But I suspect a late start to next season. CW has renewed SO many shows, so they can manage…
That’s what Bones did during Emily Deschanel’s first pregnancy. They cut the season 7 episode order to 13 to accommodate. Given that there isn’t a feasible way to write this pregnancy into the show, I say cut the episode order and hold the premiere till mid-season
They don’t have to cut the episode order. Given the nature of the show. A superbaby is unlikely, and filming until she delivers is not going to work. So yeah, keep the show until January, but they don’t have to cut the episode order…. just run non stop (mostly). Bones was a different show by it’s very nature, so they could air a set of episodes before a hiatus. Also factored in this could be a writer’s strike come spring, so who knows. But I suspect they will put Roswell New Mexico or Superman and Lois in the fall.
The show can’t run non stop – not without limiting Melissa’s screen time or her time in the suit. Being pregnant is going to limit what she can do and how long she can do them. Cutting the episode order is best bet, especially once’s the baby arrives as I’m sure Melissa (and Chris) will want to spend time with the baby
They can limit Melissa’s screen time by bringing back the young Kara and Alex actors and doing a few flashback episodes. Throw in a couple episodes focused on each of the other supporting cast (a lena and lex ep if he is still around. Send J’onn to Mars. Brainy to the future. An ep where Kara is infected and lying on a bed while everyone else saves her) and you can get 8 or so eps with limited appearances. The writers and production would just need to be more organised than normal.
I said running non stop starting in January or February. She’s likely due late summer or early fall. CW can still run a relatively full season, especially going into the summer if they want. They have before with Supergirl. The only issue is Melissa will be a new Mom, and her husband just was cast in a new ABC show. If that gets picked up, I don’t know where it shoots. But Supergirl shoots in Vancouver. Still, it gives her time off, and comes back, and the airing will be closer to when they started shooting than away from it. I don’t know what they will do. But I suspect they will bring somethng off the bench for the fall, and put Supergirl into January or February… Because Supergirl is not BONES and it has a lot of action scenes.
Wonder Woman was how many months pregnant while filling the first film and they just photoshopped it out. Same can be done here and the use of existing fotage
The writers could do something creative and write her out of the series for a while by being in The Negative Zone or something similar and everybody else is trying to get her out. They could do just about anything to not have her do action scenes. Or they could have her flying and fighting behind a really big purse.
@ Mark, Gal was pregnant during reshoots, not actual filming of WW, and they had millions upon millions of dollars to spare as they were a big budget superhero movie — not a television show on the CW
They could say she wanted a kid so she got a donor
I think thats a great idea.i actually love it
For fun, you should throw in Chris Wood’s instagram announcement of their baby news – he had a cute baby bump in it. Can’t wait to see Supergirl flying while hugging a bag of groceries for months on end! LOL
If you hit the arrow on her account’s first photo the one you’re referring to is there. It is kind of adorable and silly at the same time.
Dude is 31, she thinks that’s old?
She’s saying he gives off “old dad” energy
She means “old dad” like the saying “old soul”.
Here’s a workable but slightly lame solution: They just need to find a new excuse to put Kara back in the anti-kryptonite suit – they can have a stand-in/stunt double on set and Melissa can ADR her lines and shoot “inside the helmet” close-up inserts as needed.
Highly unlikely it will affect the current season as that finishes filming in about 2 weeks. But there’s no way the next season can start filming in June / July as it normally does.
They could ditch the hiatus between seasons 5 and 6 and keep shooting with an extended break in production during the last trimester of her pregnancy. If necessary an additional arc where Kara loses her powers and puts her on desk duty could help reducing her screentime of she needs more rest. This could also be a really interesting arc for Kara, how does she deal with not being Supergirl and other powered characters taking over?
But pregnancy is way easier to hide in other genres. The pregnant actors on other shows aren’t wearing skintight supersuits every episode and doing multiple full on fight scenes a week – they are put in baggy clothes and hidden behind desks and bags.
It can be done I’ve seen lots of shows where the main character is pregnant.
Congrats to you both
I’m so happy for them! If they don’t incorporate the pregnancy into Season 6, they can definitely hide it like they did with Danielle Panabaker and Andrea Brooks. Gal Gadot and Scarlett Johansson also filmed action movies while being pregnant, so I don’t think this will be too big of an issue. Though they may use her stunt double a little more then usual. And they will be starting to film for Season 6 earlier then usual.
I am so happy for her especially after what she had to go through with Jenner. She has finally found her happy place with Chris. This completes it. She is one of my most favorite human beings on the planet so I am really really happy for her.
But yeah it also immediately came to mind how this is going to affect Supergirl. I don’t think it will affect Season 5 at all, the final episodes will be shot this month and she does not seem to be far along. Scarlett Johansson was also pregnant when she shot Age of Ultron in 2014. In the early months of pregnancy it is definitely doable.
Season 6 however is going to be a problem. That starts shooting in July at which point Melissa should be 4-5 months pregnant.
The easiest solution would be to have Superman take Supergirls spot in October and then have Supergirl start in February. Kind of like they did with Legends this year. That would be a smart move because I don’t know how well it will work to have two kryptonian superhero shows at the same time.
Btw did anybody notice how many women in the Arrowverse have gotten pregnant lately ? Elizabeth Tulloch, Andrea Brooks, Danielle Panabaker, Melissa……
It’s like an Arrowverse baby boom lol
Well, they do say pregnancy rates go up after a catastrophe, and the Arrowverse did just survive the Crisis…. ;-)
Congeats.
Season 5 should be fine but I can see season 6 delayed with a potentially reduced order.
…uh, Congrats!
Happy for them! A big congrats if they read this :) I’m hoping that they won’t make Kara pregnant aswell, better to cut the episode order, or to hide the pregnancy. Maybe save Supergirl S6 for mid-season next year.
This actually sort of makes things easier for the CW. They can give GA&C a half-season order and delay SG for a reduced (13 ep) season in the back half. If we work out the estimated timing, Melissa should give birth around October. This would give her time to recover before she’d have to start filming (no later than late Nov for a mid-Jan premiere). Even so, I’d expect either some Journo-Kara stories earlier on as well as more CGI-SG as Melissa works back to being suspended on a boom. Also, it’s an opportunity to get some canned footage of a pregnant Kara and/or Supergirl for use in future episodes should the story need arise.
She’ll be due way before October. It looks like they know the gender of the baby which you generally find out at 16-20 weeks which equates to 4-5 months. So she’s most likely due in late July or August.
To Melissa and Chris Congratulations and wishing both of you the very best as parents. Melissa you will be a fantastic Mother and Chris will be a Wonderful Father.
Wouldn’t surprise me if the CW will now announce Green Arrow and The Canaries has been picked up to series for the Fall. They could also order full 22 episode seasons of Black Lightening and Legends of Tomorrow to fill the gap of Supergirl leaving temporarily.
BL & LoT will never have full seasons
How lovely. They seem like a really nice couple.
Congratulations, Melissa Benoist! You are going to be wonderful mother, Darling!
Congratulations to both parents-to-be! 💕🎉👶❤
I’m sure all work-related issues will be handled by the people who are paid to handle such things, & the happy couple can just enjoy this special time.❤
Women in public view don’t announce until at least 4 months along. She’s probably due in June or July.
Congratulations to Chris Wood since he is primarily responsible for this baby blessing. Any delay in production of Supergirl would impact hundreds of employees. Imo, a pregnant Kara Zor-El (without revealing the father, or as a super-surrogate), would be interesting from an original storyline perspective. Melissa must wear a harness as Supergirl, and too long a delay returning plus low ratings might equal cancellation. As for Chris, his hard work by creating this miracle will require plenty of rest and loving attention in the months ahead.
What an utterly ridiculous opening sentence. They’re both equally responsible for making a baby. That’s reproductive health 101. Biology. Science. But sure, give Chris all the credit. “Way to go, Chris, I mean, bro!”
The whole post shows that he’s an idiot.
My eyes rollers so far back in my head when I read his post. He’s definitely the guy who gives all the credit to a man when 99% of the work was from a woman.
What it actually reveal is the inability of intelligence in understanding different types of humor. And only those with low self esteem would care about insults from strangers.
Three pregnancies on the Arrowverse Vancouver sets. Andrea Brooks, Eve Teschmacher on Supergirl, Danielle Panabaker, Caitlin Snow on The Flash, and now Melissa Benoist . So much happiness. I guess Kara will miss the next meeting of the Justice League next December.
Do a shorter season, Maybe start shooting a handful of episodes this spring and then take a break until she’s back from maternity leave… and give the Canaries the timeslot for the fall.
I think it time to introduce Wonder Woman.
Congrats for the happy couple.
As for how it affects Supergirl? They could start filming some episodes earlier before Melissa takes a break for the pregnancy. The show will probably be delayed to midseason but at least they can have episodes ready to air since they probably won’t cut the episode order.
Superman and Lois will probably take its fall slot assuming they limit its eps to 13-18.
Time to introduce Wonder Woman