Supergirl: Andrew Kreisberg Talks Tonight’s Hank Henshaw Reveal

Tonight’s episode of Supergirl contained a major revelation about the true identity of David Harewood‘s Hank Henshaw character.

West Coast: Do not read this if you haven’t seen the Supergirl episode “Human For A Day” as SPOILERS are within!

“Human For A Day” revealed that David Harewood’s Hank Henshaw character is actually a major character from DC Comics lore… specifically, J’Onn J’Onzz, Martian Manhunter.

How did that come to happening?

We spoke with Executive Producer Andrew Kreisberg on set last week about the decision… which came to them while they were on set for the pilot. “When you’re on the set of a pilot, you start seeing the sets, and you start seeing the actors, and you start thinking about what we could do next, and what kind of possibilities there could be… all of us were just so in love with David [Harewood], and so happy to have him on the show, and just loved everything he was doing with Hank,” Kreisberg recalls, though watching and admiring Harewood’s acting had Kreisberg, Geoff Johns, and Greg Berlanti all coming to the same conclusion at the same time.

“I don’t know which one of us said it, but one of us said ‘Oh, if we were ever to make a Martian Manhunter show or something, David would’ve been the perfect Martian Manhunter, and it was Geoff who said ‘why can’t he be?’ We looked at each other, and then we started thinking about everything that was happening in the pilot, and the notion that… because we already had the Hank Henshaw idea set up, that we would be playing this bad secret that he was holding, and then we started thinking about it p ]and were] like ‘wait a minute. What if it’s a good secret? What if it’s like the reverse of the Reverse-Flash? You think he’s bad, but he turns out to not only be good, but literally, the most good person in the DC Universe’,” Kreisberg recalls.

Originally, Hank was going to have a different backstory… but the producers found that it all matched. “He’s had to sort of lead this crazy existence pretending to be Hank Henshaw. He doesn’t want Supergirl around; she could mess everything up. And then we realized it all fits,” Kreisberg says. But first, he and fellow Executive Producer Allison Adler took David Harewood out to lunch to tell him the news… and his biggest fear was actually humorous.

“He was like ‘I’m not going to be Shrek, am I?’ That was his biggest fear,” Andrew laughs.

“It is so spectacular. It’s just amazing, and then the more we thought about it, everything just sort of flowed from that… we’ve got White Martian episodes, and Jemm… it’s sort of the secret of Supergirl, that within the body of the series of Supergirl, there is a Martian Manhunter series rolling throughout it,” Kreisberg says, aware that many fans had speculated that Hank was the Martian Manhunter, but it would always be with a ‘I hope’ kind of glee.

“The toughest part has been convincing David that it’s J’onn J’onzz, not John Jones. He’s had to re-ADR it a couple of times,” Kreisberg reveals. “But it’s been really fun. It actually so fit in with how Supergirl has been evolving, and how she has embraced her powers and stepped into the light, and in a way, J’onn is closeted, and he’s afraid. He says in an upcoming episode, when Alex is actually encouraging him to use his powers… he says ‘What’s the difference between you and Kara?’ and he said ‘Your sister looks like a cheerleader and I look like a monster’.”

“J’onn has always been one of my favorite characters from my childhood, and then through the Justice League cartoon,” Kreisberg explains. “Just that soulfulness and that sadness… the one who is the most frightening looking of all the Justice Leaguers, and then is the one with the purest heart… and then watching this relationship that’s growing between him and Alex, and him and Kara… that started out in a very gruff place, and then by the time you’re getting to the meat of the season, they’ve become this little family unit. He’s become a surrogate father for them, but at the same time they’re helping him become more human. It’s one of the great surprises of the show.”

Supergirl airs Mondays at 8PM on CBS. Come talk about tonight’s episode on our forum and don’t think we’re done talking about this development — over at KryptonSite.com, we have video interviews with actors David Harewood and Chyler Leigh where they talk about the news!