Despite leaving the series early in season two, it’s just been announced (via Deadline) that actress Calista Flockhart is officially returning to Supergirl as Cat Grant, Kara Danvers’ former boss and the CEO of CatCo International. Although details of her return are still being kept mostly under wraps, we do know that Flockhart will appear in the final two episodes of Supergirl’s second season on the CW. The first of those episodes will air Monday, May 15, and the finale will follow on May 22.

Flockhart was a very important part of  Supergirl’s first season, which aired on CBS. When Supergirl moved over to the CW for season two, Flockhart only appeared on the first two episodes of the season, as a way to wrap up her character. (The actress wanted to stay in Los Angeles, where season one was filmed, as opposed to shipping up to Vancouver). In those episodes, Cat Grant left her position at CatCo to take a long sabbatical and “seek out new challenges.” This will be the first time she’s been seen since episode two. Also returning for the end of the season is Tyler Hoechlin as Superman.

Although the character of Catherine “Cat” Grant was, to be totally frank, kind of annoying at first, she quickly became crucial to the overall success of Supergirl in season one. In the pilot and the first couple of episodes, she was really just a knock-off of Miranda Priestly, as played by Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada. She was a grown-up “mean girl” style boss, one who gave her poor assistant Kara Danvers hell for the slightest infraction, and the whole thing felt cliche.

But within just a few episodes, the writers on Supergirl started to give Cat more layers, and employed what Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans might call the “Cordelia Effect,” due to that show’s gradual softening up of their main “mean girl” character. Yes, Cat was still sarcastic and bitchy, but it was with a purpose, and it wasn’t just to be mean, it was to push Kara into being the best person she could be. It wasn’t long before the dynamic between Cat and Kara was integral to what made the show work so well.

So with Calista returning to the show, however briefly, here are some of the reasons we think Cat Grant is important to Supergirl, and why we hope she returns for even more episodes when season three rolls around.

She’s a Mother Figure To Kara

On the show, Kara Danvers has an adoptive sister named Alex (Chyler Leigh), a father figure in J’onn J’onzz (David Harewood), and tons of supportive friends. What she didn’t have was a mother figure, an older female to shape her and guide her and tell her the harsh truths about life. Yes, Kara has an adoptive mother on the show, Eliza Danvers, played by sometimes guest star (and former big screen Girl of Steel) Helen Slater. But Slater’s appearances were (and are) so infrequent that Cat really was the one who took on the mother role for Kara. On a show which features great relationships between the female characters, this one is maybe the most important.

She Provides Much Needed Sarcasm

Don’t get me wrong, I love how pure-hearted and just plain good Melissa Benoist’s Kara Danvers is on Supergirl. Same goes with her sister Alex and all the supporting cast. But the show needs someone with a sarcastic edge, someone to take the piss out of everybody and roll their eyes at all their romantic angst and constant self doubt.

Calista Flockhart played that kind of character perfectly, and the show has been lacking without her. The producers tried to replace her character with a new boss for Kara, reporter Snapper Carr (Ian Gomez), but he just came across as mean and not at all in an endearing way. Calista just makes it look easy to be the voice of cynicism and not come across as awful all the time.

She Brought Tons Of Attitude To The Show

And I’m not just talking about her stylish clothes, although she does always looked impeccably dressed. It’s the attitude. Every time she walked out of her private elevator into her office, she did so with style and fierceness. In one of the earliest episodes, she tells Kara how she had to work twice as hard and twice as long as any man to get to be where she is today, and now that she’d made it, she was going to make sure she enjoyed all the perks — including having the best of everything, and rubbing everyone’s noses in how they don’t have it.

Supergirl remains one of the best shows in the DC Comics “Arrowverse” shows (even if she is on another Earth), but in moving to the CW it lost a little bit of what made it unique in its CBS year. Calista Flockhart’s return–even if just briefly–will bring back some of that sparky magic. After all, you can’t really have CatCo without Cat, can you?
—

Are you as excited for the return of Cat Grant to Supergirl as we are? Let us know down below in the comments.

Images: Warner Brothers / The CW