The show was officially picked up to series on May 6, 2015. On November 30, 2015, CBS ordered an additional seven episodes of Supergirl, for a full season of 20 episodes. Writing In January 2015, CBS Entertainment chairwoman Nina Tassler revealed the show would be a procedural, saying, "There will be [crime] cases, but what [executive producers] Ali Adler and Greg Berlanti pitched was a real series arc for her. The beauty of it is now with shows like The Good Wife and Madam Secretary, you can have serialized story elements woven into a case of the week. She's a crime solver, so she's going to have to solve a crime." In July 2015, Adler spoke on how much influence Superman would have on the show, saying, "Our prototype is the way the president is seen on Veep. It's certainly [inspired by] so much of what Julia Louis-Dreyfus' character goes through. Ultimately, this is a show about Supergirl and we really want to see it through her lens." Casting For the role of Kara Zor-El / Supergirl, the producers wanted a Caucasian actress aged between 22 and 26 years. In January 2015, it was announced by The Hollywood Reporter that Melissa Benoist would star as the character. Benoist later revealed that auditioning for the part "was a long, drawn-out, three-month process"; she was the first actress looked at for the role, although Claire Holt and Gemma Atkinson were also considered. In the same month, Mehcad Brooks was cast as James Olsen, based on the character Jimmy Olsen. Unlike the comics, where the same character is portrayed as a Caucasian and goes by "Jimmy", this version is African-American and goes by "James". Brooks described this as a form of "intermixing of races", differing from the 1940s where "white things were white, black things were black. Latino things were Latino". In February, Chyler Leigh was cast as Alex Danvers, an original creation for the series. In the same month, David Harewood and Calista Flockhart were cast as Hank Henshaw and Cat Grant, respectively. It was eventually revealed that Harewood's character was actually J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter impersonating Henshaw. In March, Jeremy Jordan was cast as Winslow "Winn" Schott. The character was written for the series as the son of Winslow Schott / Toyman, unlike the comics where Toyman's son is Anton Schott. Filming In February 2015, it was announced that Andrew