Supergirl season 3: Smallville’s Lois Lane joins the cast as someone we already know

As Supergirl preps for season 3, The CW announced Kara’s biological mother will now be played by Erica Durance, famous for playing Lois Lane on Smallville.

The world of Superman just got a little bit smaller! After just beginning production of season three, The CW announced another major shift in the land of Supergirl. Of course, the news also comes before San-Diego Comic Con. So I’m sure Supergirl fans will have more than plenty to talk about, including Odette Annable’s role as the villain Reign in the upcoming season, and if The CW has learned from the abundance of mistakes they made in season 2.

To be fair, they managed to do some good things, too. That’s why we watch. But season 3 looks like it will be the most interesting yet, thanks to Friday’s news: Erica Durance has also joined the series.

Obviously, that’s really cool news just because Durance originally played Lois Lane on Smallville. She’ll be the second former-Lois to appear after Teri Hatcher guest-starred as Supergirl season 2’s big bad, Queen Rhea.

Now, here’s where it gets juicy—Durance will be replacing Laura Benanti as Alura Zor-El, Kara’s biological mother. So far, she appeared only in flashbacks or as a hologram. Which means, her presence on the show may be expanding. According to executive producer Andrew Kreisberg, Benanti “was unable to continue in the role due to work commitments in .”

While that makes sense for the Tony-award winner, it’s safe to assume that we’re going to get plenty of flashbacks to Krypton, especially since that’s where Reign came from. Most likely, we’re going to see what role Alura played in Reign’s creation. Did she know about the child? Did she disapprove of what was happening? Before we assume that she wouldn’t have any part or knowledge of the experimentation, don’t forget the Zor-El’s created the Medusa virus. As Astra set to point out, they weren’t that perfect.

So this also means Kara/Supergirl will discover more of her family’s secrets and have to reconcile that past. If you’ll recall, that’s exactly what we want from the new season. Supergirl’s development suffered in season 2, so I’m pushing for a more emotional arc in season 3 that doesn’t include any sort of romantic interest.

Also what are the chances Alura is alive? I mean, so far we’ve seen that more than a handful of people survived these planetary explosions. It’s not farfetched. Plus, the end of season 2 saw Mon-El’s pod floating toward some sort portal or blackhole. Though I’d stop watching if he returned, what if he runs into someone else while he’s floating around out there. He happens to be wearing a necklace that Alura would recognize (since it’s the necklace she gave Kara, who turned around and gave it to him).

Supergirl returns in October.