Supergirl has always paid homage to its CW predecessor Smallville by bringing back several stars of the long-running Superman prequel show. Laura Vandervoort (Kara Kent) played Indigo in season 1 while Erica Durance (Lois Lane) joined the cast as Supergirl’s mother Alura last season. Other DC legacy actors like Teri Hatcher, Dean Cain and Helen Slater have likewise appeared on both shows.
In season 4, Supergirl will add another former Smallville regular to its line-up. Sam Witwer, who played David Bloome in season 8 (spoilers: he turned out to be the human form of Kryptonian monster Doomsday), has been hired as Agent Liberty, a new villain said to be portrayed as an anti-alien hatemonger.
Here’s how EW describes Witwer’s character:
“Agent Liberty is the ruthless and terrifying founder and figurehead of Children of Liberty, a hate group that supports a human-first world order. According to a description from the show’s producers, he’s “a brilliant orator in the guise of a family man” and the scariest thing about him is how easily he can convince people that he’s right.
This is just the latest geeky role added to Witwer’s resume. Apart from Smallville, he’s beloved by Star Wars fans for his prolific work as a voice actor in the franchise’s animated series and video games. He recently reprised his fan favorite role as Darth Maul in Solo: A Star Wars Story, too.
Fans might be pleased that Witwer’s joining Supergirl, but not everyone’s on board with the show’s adaptation of the character. Agent Liberty’s creator, legendary comic book writer Dan Jurgens, took to Twitter to complain that Supergirl was turning his layered anti-hero into a “whack-job” and accused the production team of “one-dimensional writing.”
To be fair to the Supergirl crew, we haven’t seen Witwer in action yet, so maybe Jurgens should hold his criticisms until season 4 arrives this October, though you can understand why he’d be frustrated at them taking such – heh – liberties with the character.