Supergirl Casts Jesse Rath As Braniac 5

The CW’s Supergirl has cast actor Jesse Rath in the role of Brainiac 5, a character who originated in the world of DC Comics back in 1961. Rath himself is no stranger to the world of sci-fi and fantasy television, having previously played roles on such genre TV series as Being Human and Defiance, as well as the Assassin’s Creed: Lineage miniseries.

The actor also played a recurring role on The CW’s romantic dramedy series No Tomorrow, which aired for a single season this past year.

In his earliest comic book iteration, Brainiac 5 claimed to be the descendant of the original and far more infamous Brainiac, though the characters’ connections (or lack thereof) have varied in subsequent versions. Blake Ritson is playing Brainiac on the upcoming SyFy TV series Krypton (a show that revolves around Superman’s grandfather), but there has been no indication so far that Supergirl’s showrunners have plans to introduce their own version of Brainiac to the small screen anytime soon. As for Brainiac 5: he’s no stranger to the world of live-action TV either, having previously been brought to life by James Marsters on Smallville.

According to TV Line, Rath will make his debut as Brainiac 5 on the upcoming Supergirl season 3 episode ‘Legion of Super-Heroes’ (the tenth episode for this season). ‘Legion of Super-Heroes’ will introduce the half-computer, half-organic being as a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, who hale from the 31st Century and travel back in time to modern-day National City, in order to help Kara in her battle against Reign (Odette Annable) – the Worldkiller that newly minted L-Corp CEO and single mom Samantha Arias has already begun to transform into.

In addition to all that, Supergirl co-showrunner Andrew Kreisberg previously indicated to TV Line that Brainiac 5 would form a romantic interest in Supergirl herself, saying:

Someone down the road will like Kara a lot, which will be a lot of fun.

Kara’s love life has been kept on the back-burner in Supergirl season 3 thus far, what with the character still reeling from the the loss of Mon-El (Chris Wood) and struggling with her own sense of dual identity; not to mention, her sense of spirituality and purpose during the episode ‘The Faithful’. Between Reign’s impending emergence and the possibility that Kara inadvertently awakened another Worldkiller during the climax of ‘The Faithful’, romance probably isn’t going to be on Supergirl’s mind anytime soon, either. Of course, that may not prevent other people from falling hard for Kara in the foreseeable future, Rath’s Brainiac 5 included.

Source: TV Line, Screen Rant