Supergirl’s Chyler Leigh and Floriana Lima open up about finally saying ‘I love you’
After adding a kidnapping to a long list of dangerous situations Supergirl’s Alex Danvers has survived, it was time.
She wakes up, girlfriend Maggie Sawyer at her bedside, and can’t wait any longer.
“I just really have to say it now,” she tells Maggie, her first girlfriend after she came out earlier this season.
“Those firsts that you talked about? I want to have them all with you. I never wanna stop having firsts with you.
“I love you, Maggie Sawyer.”
“I love you, Alex Danvers,” comes the reply.
The tear-jerking scene in last night’s episode was the latest cathartic moment in a season-long arc between the two.
The relationship between Alex, a secret government agent who was in the closet, and police detective Maggie Sawyer has provided an important example of representation for LGBT fans.
And this special scene has been a long time coming.
“I kept asking when this was going to happen,” Chyler Leigh, who plays Alex, told news site TVLine.
“(Showrunner) Andrew (Kreisberg) was like, ‘Oh, we’ll see. We’ll see.’ And then of course this is how it happens.
“It’s a pretty big next step for them,” Leigh added.
“You have moments of ‘You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone,’ but at the same time, they hadn’t gotten this vulnerable with each other quite yet.”
Floriana Lima, who plays Maggie, previously teased last night’s scene as “a pivotal moment” in the characters’ relationship, said: “Throughout this season, we’re showing a relationship blossom.
“Not only did Alex come out, and there’s a lot of emotion in that, but there are so many ups and downs in a relationship, right?
“And in this episode, a very sweet, loving connection has been developed.”
Calling back to episode eight, which aired in November, Leigh said the couple’s first kiss was a “moment of, like, life is too short, and you just really don’t know.
“That’s one thing that I always kind of laugh at with the show – because you literally could die at any moment, at any moment – but there really is no time for BS.
“You’ve just got to live.”
And Leigh’s favourite thing about the kiss?
“I love the fact that Alex says (‘I love you’) first. I think that’s really cool.”
Lima said the pair had been taken aback by the reaction, and the GLAAD Media Award nomination they got last month.
She said the nod was “just so amazing, and wow, surreal for us.
“I think what’s important is just to show this as a relationship and not to focus fully on the fact that these are two gay women,” she explained.
“We want to treat it and give it as much thought as any other relationship, right, but also be mindful that we are representing a community that needs more representation.
“We want to get it right, and we want to really think things through.”
Leigh agreed with this, adding that fans had been in touch to tell them the way their characters had affected them.
“A lot of them are about young girls kind of hitting this place of self-harm, and pretty deep, deep wounds and issues…Incredible stories of, like, ‘This is the first time I’ve gone five days without hurting myself,’” she said.
“It’s because people are feeling like they’re heard, people are feeling like they’re understood and they’re cared about.
“These are people that are as invested in us as we are in them.
“It’s cool to see those connections and know firsthand that [this storyline] is genuinely doing something profound.”
See the full clip here:
“i love you, maggie sawyer”
“i love you, alex danvers”#sanvers pic.twitter.com/iKIudwJ0a2— A (@Shiney_) May 2, 2017
