Supergirl: Why Cat Grant never came back

Why didn’t Calista Flockhart return to Supergirl as Cat Grant?

Supergirl has aired its series finale, leaving fans of the show with feelings of reflectiveness and pride. The long-running series moved mountains for the female-led superhero model and produced countless memorable adventures for its titular heroine, as well as several beloved characters for her to interact with along the way.

One of Supergirl‘s most iconic characters is undoubtedly Cat Grant. Portrayed by Calista Flockhart, Cat was a major presence in the show’s first season. The “Queen of All Media”, she served as an obstacle at first, intimidating those around her workplace and instilling fear in even Kara Danvers herself. But the CatCo boss quickly became Supergirl’s biggest champion, covering the Girl of Steel’s heroics in her magazine while also bestowing a lot of wisdom onto Kara from her very own office.

*** Contains spoilers from Supergirl season 6, episodes 19 and 20 ***

We last saw Cat in a full time capacity in the season 1 finale, and even though she promised that she would be back (and did return), the show eventually moved away from the character, only occasionally referencing her. However, she resurfaced in the series finale when she revealed that she had bought CatCo back and offered Kara the chance to become her Editor-In-Chief.

With Cat’s return to National City in the series finale, you might be wondering why she never returned to the show in the same capacity as before until now.

Why Calista Flockhart left Supergirl

Calista Flockhart exited Supergirl as a series regular when the show moved from CBS to The CW (and therefore moved production from Los Angeles to Vancouver). The Ally McBeal star understandably did not wish to leave her family in LA, and thus, had to depart the role.

However, she did make some guest appearances after that, returning to the show for the first two episodes of season 2 to allow Cat to be written out. She then later returned for the final two episodes of season 2 before then making one final cameo in the season 3 premiere.

What happened to Cat Grant?

With Flockhart’s departure, the show wrote Cat Grant out in the first two episodes of the second season, choosing to have the now-restless media powerhouse search for a new purpose outside of her job. She found that purpose in the Himalayan mountains and later returned in the last two episodes of season 2 to help Supergirl defeat the Daxamite invaders.

She then became the press secretary for President Olivia Marsdin (Lynda Carter), appearing via a TV news report of her press conference throughout the season 3 premiere. But, aside from the use of more of that footage in the third episode of season 4, we haven’t seen her since. We never found out what happened to her after President Marsdin resigned.

We do know that she survived Crisis On Infinite Earths and she has been in touch with Kara since, but she never actually returned to screens, and it goes without saying that the show undoubtedly missed her larger-than-life presence (and, in many people’s minds, it never fully recovered from that).

Is Cat Grant in Supergirl season 6?

Cat Grant does appear multiple times in Supergirl‘s sixth and final season. The first comes in the form of a flashback to her younger days as the Daily Planet’s CJ Grant – in which she was portrayed by Eliza Helm.

She is also referenced multiple times, as the Super Friends use her as Kara’s alibi whenever the Girl of Steel is trapped in the Phantom Zone, telling people the pair are off investigating a story together, while Kara then actually consulted her off-screen in the season’s later episodes.

However, in the series finale, she makes her long-awaited return when she buys CatCo back and returns to reporting, with her Girl of Steel, Kara Danvers, by her side.

Would you have liked to have seen more of Cat Grant? Were you glad to see her back in the Supergirl season 6/series finale? Let us know in the comments below!