Supergirl bids farewell to one series regular as another prepares to return

Supergirl is no stranger to cast shake ups and this weeks episode saw the departure of one of it’s series regulars, just as another former cast member prepares to return.

The time has come to bid farewell to James Olsen Supergirl fans, as Mehcad Brooks has officially left the show after being a series regular since the very beginning. The departure doesn’t come as a shock as news of Mehcad Brooks’s exit as a series regular was announced back in July. However, fans did not know exactly which episode would be the actors last and it turned out to be this week’s episode, “In Plain Sight”.

Episode 4 of Supergirl Season 5 found James grappling with what to do with the rest of his life after quitting his job at CatCo and essentially being blocked from a career as a reporter by Andrea Rojas. He found the answer on a trip back to his hometown with his sister Kelly.

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When they find a group of hungry kids camped out at their aunt’s house, James and Kelly naturally take it upon themselves to help. James connects with one young man in particular and is really moved by the stories he hears about the difficulties the town is facing.

Realizing he can no longer sit in a corner office and fight the good fight from afar, James makes the decision that he is going to return home to help those who need him. And in a clever loophole, he decides to buy the town newspaper. He may not be able to write for a newspaper, but Andrea never said he couldn’t publish one!

So with that, James returns to National City one last time with Kelly to bid the Super Friends farewell and let them know that he is leaving National City for good. After all, he came to National City to look after Kara and it’s clear that she’s more than capable of looking after herself, so it’s time for him to go where he can do the most good.

It’s a story that allows James to potentially return one day and honors who he is as a character. Especially one final moment where he is seen passing on his father’s camera to the young man who inspired him to make this change. It’s a nice full-circle moment for James while leaving the door open for the character to appear again down the line.

But just as Supergirl is losing one original cast member, another former cast member is preparing to make their return. Jeremy Jordan will soon be returning as Winn Schott!

Jeremy Jordan was a regular on the superhero drama for the first three seasons before departing at the end of Season 3 when Winn was sent to the future to join the Legion of Superheroes. He was meant to return in Season 4 but they couldn’t quite make it work so his return was pushed back.

Now the time has finally come for the return of Winn Schott. After recently performing some concerts in London, Jordan took to Twitter to announce that he is briefly returning home to spend some time with his family before heading to Vancouver to film Supergirl.

Unfortunately, Jordan is only expected to return for a temporary character arc and not as a series regular. However, a little Winn Schott is better than no Winn Schott at all so I’ll take what I can get.

In my opinion, there has been a huge Winn-sized gap in the show since he left and it will be very nice to see him back. Winn has ties to so many characters – he is Kara’s best friend, a little brother to Alex, a friend to James and Brainy, a son to J’onn—hopefully, they will give him a chance to interact with as many characters as possible during his brief return. Who knows, maybe he’ll even be able to help Lena Luthor deal with her darker impulses.

Either way, whatever is in store for him it will be nice to have Winn back. Judging by the filming schedule we can likely expect to see Winn return sometime after mid-season after the big “Crisis On Infinite Earths” crossover.

Are you sad to see James go? Did you think he got an appropriate send-off? Are you excited to see Winn return? Let us know!

Supergirl airs Sundays at 9pm EST on the CW.