‘Supergirl’: Jason Behr Breaks Down Zor-El’s Final Episode

Spoilers for Supergirl latest episode “Welcome Back Kara” past this point, but that’s a series wrap on Zor-El (Jason Behr). First introduced in Season 6, Episode 2, Zor-El has been a crucial part of the first arc of the final season, as he surprisingly returned to his daughter Kara’s (Melissa Benoist) life while they were both trapped in the Phantom Zone. But as of this week’s episode, the Kryptonian is heading off to something far scarier: a conversation with his wife.

“I am curious to see how Zor-El and Alura talk about what has happened, what has transpired,” Behr told Decider. “I mean, when he was in the Phantom Zone, he had no idea that any of his loved ones survived… Sitting in that space for so long, he had a lot of time to think about things and about what you might say. But as someone who’s been married for a long time, when you stand in front of somebody, all that goes out the window.”

In the hour, Zor-El makes his way to Earth with the rest of the now-named Superfriends, and immediately jumps into a problem: how do you get rid of the garbage islands that are all over the planet? As Zor-El realizes, ecologically Earth is on the same path as Krypton, and he’ll do anything to stop the same mistake from happening again. Naturally, things go very wrong and a garbage monster has to be taken down by the heroes. But in the midst of all that, we get to see Zor-El interact with all the Superfriends, fly for the first time, and even don a costume and pretend to be Kara’s Uncle Archie so he can visit with her at work.

Though Zor-El won’t be showing up again on the show, Behr was more than open to another appearance somewhere else in the Arrow-verse, and like Zor-El himself, helped logically and methodically break down some of the biggest moments in this week’s episode.

Decider: You’ve been stuck in the Phantom Zone, aka, I assume, a soundstage for most of the run of the show so far. So what was it like to actually go and visit some of the other sites?

It was really nice to get out of that Phantom Zone, and to get out of that feeling. And it was really nice to be in there with Melissa, but it was also nice to get to know the rest of the group, as well. And, it was really a lot of fun to have other people around me. We shot most of the stuff on stage, so I didn’t get a chance to really go outside. So the behaviors and protocols for COVID were the same, but to be on the soundstage with more than just one or two people, was really nice.

How was it working with the rest of the cast? What was the dynamic like, and how was it different?

It was wonderful, you can really feel that sense of camaraderie and friendship that has developed over the past six years. To be a part of that was just a lot of fun. They all love each other very much, and they all make each other laugh so much. When you’re on set with a bunch of really close friends, it just feels really good.

Not to make you pick favorites, but we do see Zor-El engage and work with everybody in different aspects. Was there some relationship that got developed that particularly popped for you, one that surprised you in any particular way?

The obvious is with Melissa, and Kara. But one that was interesting to explore was with Lena, because they’re two incredibly smart individuals, brilliant, science based minds. And there’s a moment when we were doing a scene when Zor-El looked at her, and there’s just this look of like: game respects game. I can see how powerful and how smart she is. And that was something that I was kind of surprised about.

Now that we see Zor-El on Earth, he’s very much a fish out of water. What was it like playing this new mode for the character?

Imagine if you will, if you woke up tomorrow morning and had all of these super abilities. There’s a little bit of a learning curve to go with it. Just that wall of intense sound that goes along with super hearing, and the super-sight and the strength and not knowing how to really actually pick up objects. It was fun to play that fish out of water. Even a character within a character like when Zor-El goes to visit Kara’s work, and he pretends to be Uncle Archie, there was a lot of fun to be had with those situations.

I really loved the bit where he’s lifting up the copy machine… So, I mean, this is kind of an obvious question, but was it more fun for you to be doing these types of things on set. Or are they just different?

Absolutely, it was tremendous fun to lean into the comedy aspect of it and to play around with it being such a new experience for him. It felt like very childlike, playful behavior, not really understanding that, “oh, I’m not supposed to pick up this 300 pound copy machine in the middle of a crowd? That doesn’t make any sense, why would it?” So it was a lot of fun to do that humor, after being in such a serious mindset.

This almost feels like a Kryptonian TV and movie rite of passage, but what was it like putting on the ol’ Clark Kent style costume and glasses?

It was my best version of Chris Reeve as Clark Kent, and that’s the watermark, that’s the high bar. So it was a lot of fun to bumble into, like I said, leaning into the comedy aspect. It was a real joy.

The scene of Zor-El and Kara bonding by taking care of a falling satellite is really lovely to see, though I imagine a lot of it was hanging on wires in front of a green screen, and then we get to the actual final product.

When you ask people what superpower they would want, they want to have their own answers and different reasons. Mine has always been and will always be flight. I was the kid who was always running around, pretending to be Superman. Something wrapped around my neck, jumping off of garages or wherever I could climb up. To [fly on screen] was a real childhood dream come true. They don’t use wires so much as they used to, which is what Melissa was telling me since she’s the professional and I was the newbie. They put the camera up kind of high and shoot down at you. But it was really wonderful to be able to express what that first flight might be like, and how that might feel where you had Kara, who may have tried that when she was younger, you have Zor-El much older, experiencing this for the first time. There was that childlike joy… You couldn’t help but smile ear to ear, and you couldn’t help but laugh from your core. It was a real special experience.

One of the things that I appreciated about the episode is the problem, garbage taking over the oceans — ultimately, at the end of the episode there is no easy solution, despite Zor-El trying his absolute best.

I thought it was really smart of them to parallel what had happened on Krypton to what is happening now on Earth, I think it makes it very relatable. The fact that there are no easy answers and that it is complicated, it is a really difficult problem to try and solve. And what I appreciate about Zor-El and his situation in this is that when he saw how Earth was on the same path as Krypton, he saw it as his destiny to make things right, to correct the past mistakes for himself for his daughter to make her proud, or Alura. I mean, how often you get a second chance like that, a do-over of that magnitude. I thought it was profound for him to try to tackle that problem all over again. And what got in his way the first time is what got in his way the second. Hubris and ego can be blinding even with the best intentions, and the fact that there is no real simple solution, and it is complicated, it just reinforces the fact that we do need to come together as a planet and try to figure this out sooner rather than later.

At the very end of the episode, we see him heading off to finally talk to his wife, something that he’s been avoiding this entire time.

I am curious to see how Zor-El and Alura talk about what has happened, what has transpired. I mean, when he was in the Phantom Zone, he had no idea that any of his loved ones survived. He sent his only daughter off to earth, but had no idea if she survived. He activated the shields for Argo City, but had no knowledge of it actually working. So sitting in that space for so long, he had a lot of time to think about things and about what you might say. But as someone who’s been married for a long time, when you stand in front of somebody, all that goes out the window. So I am curious to see what that conversation actually looks like between Zor-El and Alura. And Argo City, how are they responding and coming back, because of the mistakes that he made, that ultimately resulted in the destruction of Krypton? I would be a curious fly on the wall.

Just to clarify, are we going to see you again on the show?

This was it for me. They have a lot of other characters to wrap up, but I love this episode. And they gave me so much to do… I love playing around and if anybody ever asked me to come back and do this again, I would in a heartbeat. I mean, they did make me a supersuit after all, so there’s a lot of mileage left on that thing.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Supergirl airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on The CW.

Where to watch Supergirl