Supergirl's new showrunners are beginning to open up about what's to come in the third season of The CW series - confirming that the fate of Mon-El will figure prominently into the show's next storyline.

The relationship between Supergirl and Mon-El, a refugee from the planet Daxam, was the driving narrative force of Supergirl season 2. What started out as a fun "fish out of water" dynamic eventually turned romantic, as the chemistry between the two was undeniable. Mon-El was forced to depart Earth at the end of the season, and his spacecraft was swallowed up by a wormhole, his ultimate destination unclear.

We've known for awhile Mon-El would still be a major character on the series moving forward, but now we're getting further insight into how he'll factor into the show's future. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, newly installed showrunners Jessica Queller and Robert Rovner explained that Mon-El's disappearance will drive much of the plot in Supergirl season 3:

QUELLER: Where Mon-El is and how he comes back is the central mystery of our season.

The producers also commented on the newly re-cast Alura (now played by Smallville alum Erica Durance), Kara's long presumed dead mother, and how that relationship defines Kara and will play a significant role in the new season:

ROVNER: We wanted to keep Alura’s presence on the show because it really connects Kara to Krypton and her roots and what it meant to see her family and her planet destroyed. It’s an emotional grounding that’s always important.

QUELLER: The theme of this season is what does it mean to be human? Kara is going to be especially grappling with that, and all of the characters are. The loss of her family and Krypton impacts that a lot. The mother-daughter relationship is something we still want to explore in whatever fashion.

The producers both sidestep speculation that Mon-El could potentially encounter Alura in the Phantom Zone. In Supergirl's iteration of the sci-fi prison dimension, Alura was a Kryptonian judge who sent criminals there to serve out horrific sentences in exile. The notion that Alura somehow survived Krypton's destruction by escaping to the Phantom Zone is an interesting one, and seeing Mon-El interact with, essentially, his girlfriend's mom while trying to survive a gauntlet of alien villains would certainly be an interesting angle for the show to pursue. Whether Durance's casting signals an increased role for Alura going forward is unclear, and the new showrunners are definitely not tipping their hand.

NEXT: Supergirl Season 3 Comic-Con Trailer

Supergirl returns for season 3 Monday October 9 at 8pm on The CW.

Source: EW