Lois Lane Comes to ‘Supergirl’… Sort Of

It’s a Smallville world, after all!

It was just announced that Smallville‘s Erica Durance, who played Lois Lane on the WB (which then became The CW) from 2004 to 2011, will be flying in to Supergirl as Alura, Kara’s late mother who frequently appears to her in holographic form.

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The role was originated by Laura Benanti (Nashville), but according to the release, timing just wasn’t on her side for Season 3. Not only does she have a concert tour scheduled for the fall, word has it she may be headed back to Broadway to star in Steve Martin’s new play alongside Amy Schumer.

“Unfortunately Laura, who Greg [Berlanti] and I have worked with for years going back to Eli Stone, was unable to continue in the role due to work commitments in NY,” says executive producer Andrew Kreisberg. “But we are so blessed that Erica has come aboard to offer her own interpretation of Kara’s mother. We had tremendous success with a former Lois Lane last season with Teri Hatcher. We know Erica will continue the proud tradition of legacy actors joining our shows and creating new and exciting takes on classic DC characters.”

Of course, those other DC legacy actors have included Hatcher’s Lois & Clark supes, Dean Cain (MIA Danvers patriarch Jeremiah), former big-screen Supergirl Helen Slater (Kara and Alex’s mom, Eliza), Smallville‘s version of Kara, Laura Vandervoort (baddie Indigo) and TV’s Wonder Woman Lynda Carter (President Olivia Marsdin).

Given that Smallville ran for 750 years, we fully expect to see some more veterans from that fan-favorite to show up sooner or later. Maybe it’s time to start a petition to get Chloe Sullivan a gig with the DEO, huh?

Supergirl, Mondays, 8/7c, The CW