Cat Grant may have been a tough boss on SUPERGIRL, but eventually she warmed up to both Supergirl and Kara. Snapper Carr, however, is a tougher nut to crack. He’s definitely more surly than Cat ever was and has no desire to give Kara even an inch of niceness.
During a visit to the set of SUPERGIRL, we spoke to Ian Gomez about his character, Snapper’s thoughts on Kara and how he’s different from Cat.
Snapper vs. Cat. “They’re two totally different beasts, Snapper and Cat,” Gomez explained. “But Snapper’s a bit more immovable to Kara. He’s kind of this brick wall that I don’t think she knows how to scale or knock down. With Cat, it was more maternal. It was this role model relationship that she really grew from, that forced her to kind of be introspective in herself and become more of a woman. It was another female to look up to, and Snapper I think just has no sensitivity to that. So it’s fun in that respect. She’s constantly just butting heads and butting heads, whereas with Cat, it was kind of like, we butt heads and then we say, ‘Sorry. And this is what I learned’.”
Not Getting Through to Him. Kara’s endless cheeriness still hasn’t managed to get through Snapper’s defences, but is it a possibility? Gomez said that “I don’t know if Snapper knows how to smile. I think eventually they’ll be able to get to a place of understanding. I think being the hard-ass all the time, it’s one-note, and it gets kind of tired after a while, so I don’t know. I am sure the writers are very aware of that, so there’s going to be definite levels of this character and even what you see him of him and what he shows, and about their relationship, I’m sure, will change over time, and to maybe a place of respect or not.”
His Thoughts on Superheroes. What does Snapper think of Supergirl and now Guardian? “He’s very practical. It’s just about the facts. He’s kind of like a Joe Friday guy, just straight facts and everything like that, so his feeling on superheroes and vigilantes… I don’t really think he has a personal feeling about them. It’s just what they do, if it’s newsworthy, then get that story out. He’s not pro-alien or anti-alien. It’s just what the facts are, and let’s just get that. He’s hard to please. So I don’t think he has a personal feeling about it.”
The Snapper/James Olson Dynamic. While Snapper routinely expresses his displeasure about Kara, he doesn’t generally do that about James. Why is that? “I think there’s a level of some respect [between James and Snapper]. I don’t think James really fears Snapper, and Snapper kind of puts up with James, but they’re not going out for drinks or anything like that. He’s, at the moment, a necessary evil that Snapper has to deal with, so James has to deal with Snapper, too. They need each other, but they’re not breaking bread.”
SUPERGIRL returns from its winter hiatus with all new episodes tonight (January 23) at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.