SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for the Supergirl series finale.
At long last, Lex Luthor has been defeated, and he'll have a hard time getting himself out of this prison. In "Kara," the Supergirl series finale, Lex and Nyxly successfully assembled the AllStone, but their alliance dissolved when he almost hurt Esme in order to do so. So, when it came time to fight the Super Friends, they weren't on the same page and Lex's plan to trap Kara in the Phantom Zone completely backfired. As a result, both Lex and Nyxly were sucked in the Phantom Zone, where they will remain -- for now.
Speaking to CBR, Supergirl star Jon Cryer explained why -- and how -- he believes his Lex Luthor will return to the Arrowverse someday. He pointed out that Lex's fate "leaves the door open" for him to come back and expressed interest in exploring the character on another series, but only "if they come up with a fun arc." He also shared his favorite aspect of working on the series, broke down Lex's view of love by tying it to the character's "rampant egotism" and more.
CBR: So far in Season 6, we've seen a very different side of Lex. What was it like to explore Lex's romantic side for these past few episodes? Do you think Lex is even capable of truly loving anyone besides himself?
It was really scary, because I had to figure out -- I didn't want him to lose his menace. I didn't want people to forget that he's a scary, super controlling awful guy, that the writers were writing in, first of all, some lighthearted stuff, because you have to make fun of the fact that Lex Luthor is in love with somebody! [laughs] But also, occasional moments of tenderness.
So I thought, "Wow, I don't exactly know how I'm going to do this." So we just, basically, played it by ear, and I worked with Peta [Sergeant] a lot, who was who was beyond lovely. I tried to find what part of this guy functions in this way -- what part of him is left that could still be vulnerable to somebody? And it was hard! It was hard to find! But I think I found it.
I think they did a great job, in that they placed most of the relationship in the future, so it leaves a lot to the imagination. You can get that he falls in love with her sort of as an extension of his own ego, because she's so powerful, that it feels like she's the only one who could possibly be worthy of him. He found that way in, just through his rampant egotism.
Supergirl spent a lot of time really digging in and exploring Lex's relationship with his family. How do you think Lillian's sacrifice and Lena's decision to side with the Super Friends change the way he sees his place in that dynamic?
Well, he has always been playing the betrayal card with Lena. He has always been saying, "Hey, you know, you can betray me all you want, but at heart, you're still a Luthor." She's been battling that for the entirety of the of the series. So this is just the last act of that. Lena has come into her history as a as a witch.
My mother, as much as we have had a very contentious relationship, she still tries to remain loyal to me. It was interesting, because Katie [McGrath] was having a rough day, the day that we shot Brenda [Strong]'s death, but the second that they started rolling the cameras, Katie was just weeping. All these relationships are so loaded, and we've had such a great time building these dynamics that it was very easy to access all those feelings.
Lex ended up getting exactly what he wanted: now he's stuck with Nyxly forever, albeit in the Phantom Zone. How do you feel about where the series leaves him?
You know, I feel okay with it, because it's a great comeuppance for a truly awful guy, but it also leaves the door open. I loved doing other stuff in the Arrowverse. I had a great time doing the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover. I really enjoy the shows! The Arrowverse shows have nailed the comics in a way that the movies have often had a hard time doing. So I like that he's not -- I didn't want to do another dying scene. [laughs] I died in the fourth season! We got that over with.
How do you think Lex would fare in the Phantom Zone?
I think he is filled with rage about it, but also, he's gonna figure it out. I mean, this is a guy who thrived in prison. He had prison wired. But this is obviously worse. I mean, I think he'll go through the gauntlet of the Phantoms playing on his fears, but he'll figure out a way to have it wired, and he's got eternity to figure out how to get Nyxly to fall back in love with him. So, he's gonna be a man with a plan pretty soon.
While Supergirl is over, the Arrowverse isn't done just yet. How interested would you be in returning as Lex Luthor in another Arrowverse project?
Certainly, I would not be surprised that that happened. Everybody made sure to leave the door open for that. The toughest thing in the last year was the quarantine rules made shooting episodes much more arduous than they normally would be. So that made everything kind of loaded, so I'd say that, before they dropped the quarantine, it was very unlikely that Lex would ever come back, but now that they've dropped the quarantine, it's possible.
Which show would you want to appear on, and why?
I think they're doing so many things! The Crisis showed that Stargirl was in that universe, and Doom Patrol, and even Titans was in that universe. I'd love to -- you know, I think if they come up with a fun arc, I'm open to all of them.
Now that Supergirl has ended, what do you hope you brought to the Superman mythology as Lex Luthor?
I hope that I brought the fun that the comics had to the character, that weird combination of charming and witty, but also sociopathic. I hope that the version I did will allow people to enjoy him in a different way. Not quite take it -- I don't want to say not take it seriously, because I think I took a lot of it seriously, but just enjoy it the same way they enjoyed the comics. That's what I'd like.
What was one of your favorite memories from working on Supergirl?
It was such a such a lovely group of people, the cast and the crew and writers. The whole thing was really a lot of good people bringing good energy to things. But I'd say my favorite moments were -- I love doing the special effects work and doing flying work and stunts. There was a great scene where I was shooting my laser rifles -- I have that laser, that glove, the power glove, I don't know what you'd call it -- and I had to have a one-on-one battle with Supergirl in a warehouse (these things always end up in a warehouse) and I just loved the challenge of it.
I loved working with the stunt people on Supergirl, who just put so much work into these things. Often, the stunt coordinator will do a thing called pre-vis -- well, I'm sure you know this -- where basically, they shoot the scene with the stunt performers completely, on their phones, and then show it to you. It was so much fun being a part of a team like that, because seeing that just everybody was putting so much extra effort into making something really fun. I love that.
I loved, in the Crisis crossover episodes, where we had to have the big final battle in that -- well, where we shot it was an actual working rock quarry. They were still mining stuff while we were there. Every now and then, we'd be in the middle of a scene and there'd be some huge explosion and a landslide one fill over! [laughs] And it was pouring rain. We were doing this huge scene with the Phantoms flying around and all of these superheroes arrayed. It was Flash and Supergirl and Sara Lance, and I loved the size of it and I loved how ambitious it was. It's fun to be a part of the superhero shows. It just is!