James] were just the nice, sweet scenes where they were being friends." He also said that while the theme of the first season was "how does Kara become Supergirl?", the theme of the second would be "how does Supergirl become Kara?". Kriesberg said another theme of the season was "about coming into one's own and becoming who you are", such as Winn Schott becoming who he is by joining the Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO), and J'onn J'onzz embracing his Martian Manhunter persona, which he spent 300 years concealing, but does not have to any longer. The season is split in two-halves each with their own self-contained "big bad" story: Project Cadmus serves as the "big bad" of the first half, and Queen Rhea for the second half. The season establishes that Alex Danvers is gay, with Maggie Sawyer being her partner. Chyler Leigh, who plays Alex, explained, "it's not like this thing that all of a sudden is just spilling out, it's a discovery for her". She added, "You have so many stories [...] where people are already established as gay, lesbian, bi[sexual]; these are people who are coming in like that" and described the second season as a "great opportunity to show somebody who's figuring it out, the light bulb moment and putting the puzzle pieces together." While the first season showed that the DEO operates in an isolated cave located "in the middle of nowhere", the second season shows that the DEO has relocated to their other base, a skyscraper in National City. Kreisberg explained that the creative team of Supergirl "fell out of love" with the DEO's cave setting, saying "It was cool in the beginning, and it just for some reason didn't feel like it was bringing everything together", hence the reason for shifting to the skyscraper setting. Casting Melissa Benoist, Mehcad Brooks, Chyler Leigh, Jeremy Jordan, and David Harewood return from the first season as Kara Danvers / Supergirl, James Olsen, Alex Danvers, Winn Schott and J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter, respectively. They are joined by Chris Wood and Floriana Lima, protraying Mon-El and Maggie Sawyer, respectively. Harewood also portrays Hank Henshaw, who becomes this series' version of Cyborg Superman. The season establishes Olsen as the vigilante Guardian, unlike the comics where Jim Harper is the vigilante. The producers decided to depict Sawyer as a Latino for the series, unlike the comics where she