https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/lex-luthor-coming-supergirl-season-4-1153360

The CW has begun a casting search for the iconic DC Comics villain. "We’ve talked about having Lex on the show since its inception and we’re excited to have him finally arrive," Supergirl's executive producers said in a statement. We can’t wait for him to shake things up in National City and watch him go toe to toe with not only Supergirl, but his sister Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath)."

Jon Cryer Lands Iconic Villain Role on "Supergirl"
by Geoff Boucher
November 16, 2018


Jon Cryer, the Emmy-winning co-star of "Two and A Half Men", will return to primetime television to play the scheming, evil genius Lex Luthor as a recurring character on The CW series "Supergirl".

The plan is for Cryer to make his debut as Luthor in the 15th episode of the current season which airs in early January. The series switched to Sunday nights in October when it launched its Season Four storyline.

The season’s sixth episode, titled Call to Action, airs this Sunday.




“We are enormous fans of Jon Cryer, and he was instantly our dream actor to play the iconic role of Lex Luthor,” said executive producers Robert Rovner and Jessica Queller said.

“Jon is a super-talent, and the fact that he played Lenny Luthor in Superman IV brings an added layer of legacy to his casting. We’re beyond thrilled to welcome Jon to the Supergirl family.”

https://deadline.com/2018/11/lex-luthor-jon-cryer-lands-iconic-villain-role-for-supergirl-1202503628/

Why Jon Cryer is an odd choice to play Supergirl's Lex Luthor (https://www.themarysue.com/jon-cryer-lex-luthor/)

"Lex Luthor works as a villain because he genuinely believes he can outwit Superman and the forces of good," says Chelsea Steiner, pointing to Lex Luthor portrayals like Gene Hackman's in the original Superman movies. "I picture Lex Luthor as someone who is more Dick Cheney than Mark Zuckerberg." She says Cryer's casting as Lex: "The actor’s onscreen persona leads me to believe that he will be another in the current trend of nebbishy, nerdy Lex Luthor portrayals. The trend started with Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal of Luthor in the DCEU as a criminally insane nerd whose lust for power is belied by his skittish, nervous mannerisms. But this (like nearly everything else about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) rubs me the wrong way. Call me old school, but I prefer a smooth-talking, self-possessed Luthor in the vein of Michael Rosenbaum’s portrayal in Smallville. In addition to being a genius, Lex Luthor’s greatest power is his ability to manipulate the people around him to do his bidding. Luthor’s lethal charisma is his chief weapon, which allows him to hide in plain sight as a billionaire businessman of Metropolis." ALSO: Cryer's casting means no one's age makes sense on Supergirl (https://io9.gizmodo.com/cws-supergirl-casts-lex-luthor-and-now-no-ones-age-make-1830500535).

Here's your first look at Jon Cryer as Supergirl's Lex Luthor (https://io9.gizmodo.com/behold-supergirls-lex-luthor-in-all-his-beautifully-ba-1831992691)

The former Two and a Half Men star will make his debut as the DC Comics villain on March 17.

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--tAdvSXnh--/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/tcqx6hunbxtjcmblndc0.png

Watch the first footage of Jon Cryer as Supergirl's Lex Luthor (https://ew.com/tv/2019/03/08/supergirl-lex-luthor-promo/)

“I want to see if the the Kryptonian pretender can bleed,” Cryer's Lex says in the promo for the March 15 episode featuring his debut as the iconic DC Comics villain.

See new photos of Jon Cryer's Lex Luther on on Supergirl (https://www.tvtattle.com/item/See-new-photos-of-Jon-Cryers-Lex-Luther-on-on-Supergirl-olSM5W)

Cryer makes his debut as the iconic DC Comics villain on the March 17 episode.

Jon Cryer Reveals why he Said Yes to Playing Lex Luthor on "Supergirl"
by Chancellor Agard
March 15, 2019


Jon Cryer‘s past as a member of the Luthor family was one of the reasons he agreed to play Lex Luthor on "Supergirl".

This Sunday, the "Two and a Half Men" alum will make his debut as Superman’s greatest foe on The CW superhero drama; however, this isn’t the first time he’s played a Luthor.




As most fans know, he played comedic relief Lenny Luthor in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, which is widely regarded as the most disappointing entry of the original Christopher Reeve-led series.

Given both of the film’s less than sterling reputation and Cryer’s love of the first Superman movie and the comics, he wanted the opportunity to do the Luthor name justice.




“Part of the reason I did Superman IV was because [Superman] changed my life,” Cryer told reporters at a screening of Sunday’s episode “O Brother, Where Are Thou,” on Friday.

“I was like 14-years-old and [Superman‘s] tagline was, ‘You will believe a man can fly,’ and boy, I bought it! I totally bought it. Superman IV had really high hopes, but unfortunately, it was very disappointing for people and that had always sort of hurt me in a very 14-year-old boy way. And so I thought, you know, this is my chance to do it right.”




So far, the experience of both playing Lex and returning to the Luthor family has been pretty “lovely,” he said.

“I had a certain amount of familiarity. I was very excited about working with Katie McGrath and I love the whole story that they’ve set up for this season. Yeah, I felt like Lenny [was] a branch on the family tree that fell off pretty early and was rotting on the ground basically for a long while… So I feel like this was my chance to sort of reclaim it and do it a little more justice, or injustice, as it were.”







"Supergirl" showrunners and executive producers Robert Rovner and Jessica Queller have also been very pleased with Cryer’s performance so far.

“I am in awe of Mr. Cryer. I don’t think we could have possibly done better in our casting, and I mean, we’re just thrilled,” said Queller. “We were so excited when DC gave us permission to use Lex Luthor. It’s something the show has wanted to do since the onset and it’s always been a very emphatic ‘no’… This was a huge gift to get to create our Lex, and we really wanted to have a singular Lex Luthor that paid homage to the other famous iconic Lexes.”




The duo revealed that Cryer was their first choice.

“We were thinking about who could play Lex Luthor, and then I saw Jon’s picture and then it struck me, ‘Lenny Luthor!’ Then, it seemed like what we really needed in a Lex Luthor was a villain that you love to hate and a brilliant actor, and so it was like, ‘Oh my god!’ It felt very serendipitous at the time,” said Rovner.







In Sunday’s episode, Lex is secretly furloughed from prison because he’s dying from an illness and needs his sister Lena’s (McGrath) help to find a cure. From there, the episode dives into the sibling’s dynamic.

“I think Lex is a sociopath. He’s an actual sociopath, but he does have a link he can’t break with her. And also to some degree, he gets that she’s got an incredible gift as an intellect and as a scientist. So, his narcissism, I think, kicks in and he can find that to love about her,” said Cryer.

“She’s like me, that’s why I love her. So he understands that she’s a formidable person and I do think that his really twisted family history does come into play. Although, by the way, I don’t know the entirety of the entire twisted family history because there have been hints, but I don’t yet know it all. I think that’s for the best because I’m on Twitter too much.”




He continued, “As anybody who has lived with an entirely toxic human being in their life understands, you keep them at arm’s length, and that is what Katie’s character Lena has done beautifully is just, ‘I get that you’re there, I get that I have to deal with you, but I’m not going to let you hurt me.'”

Looking ahead, you can expect the supervillain to have an impact on the rest of the fourth season. “I think [Lex’s introduction] energizes the second half of the season because his presence in the show and in the story that we’re telling really creates a singular villain that drives everybody’s agenda moving forward.”

https://ew.com/tv/2019/03/15/supergirl-jon-cryer-lex-luthor-spoilers-superman-iv/

Jon Cryer's Lex Luthor actually works in his Supergirl debut (https://tv.avclub.com/jon-cryer-s-lex-luthor-makes-his-supergirl-debut-in-an-1833361823)

"I wasn’t hugely blown away by Cryer’s take on Lex in the opening flashback, but he locks into a much more successful tone in the present day stuff," says Caroline Siede. "Cryer is a fairly mannered actor and Lex’s illness gives him plenty of mannerisms to play up. The best parts of the episode explore the complex brother/sister dynamic between Lex and Lena. He argues it was his judgmental nature that pushed her to greatness before offering a more genuinely sentimental compliment too. She agrees to work with him on the Harun-El serum without going so far as to say she actually trusts him, although his sudden but inevitable betrayal clearly still stings. Cryer sells the hell out of Lex’s final Watchmen-inspired 'I took the cure 10 minutes ago' monologue, and his climactic escape sequence is a really fun bit of supervillain action."

ALSO:

Jon Cryer breaks down his first Supergirl episode (https://variety.com/2019/tv/features/supergirl-lex-luthor-jon-cryer-interview-1203165072/)
Producers are promising "a lot of fun" with Cryer's Luthor (https://tvline.com/2019/03/17/supergirl-recap-season-4-episode-15-eve-lex-luthor-interview/)

Jon Cryer to Return as Lex Luthor for Arrowverse Crossover
by Chancellor Agard
July 20, 2019


We haven’t seen the last of Jon Cryer’s Lex Luthor on "Supergirl".

Cryer will return as the megalomaniacal criminal mastermind in the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover coming later this year. This isn’t terribly surprising because, although Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath) killed her brother in the season 4 finale, the Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) showed up and did something to the body in the final moments of the episode.

“We’re excited to have you back,” co-showrunner Jessica Queller said of the character during the CW superhero drama’s panel. “Hopefully you’ll stick around after that. You need to be nicer to your sister.”

https://ew.com/comic-con/2019/07/20/supergirl-recruits-game-of-thrones-veronica-mars-vets-season-5/