‘Chasing Life’ star Italia Ricci might be looking to sap the life out of a major DC super hero, when she appears as Siobhan Smythe better known as supernatural villain Silver Banshee on ‘Supeergirl’.  She makes her debut in episode 14 and it is reported that the role will be recurring.  Siobhan will debut as a new employee at Cat Co. and will originate as a work rival for Kara before morphing into the sonic-powered menace.

Executive producer Andrew Kreisberg stated:

“We are so excited to be working with Italia.  We’ve been a fan of her work for years and we cannot wait to see her take on this iconic comic book role.”   

Ricci starred for two years on ‘Chasing Life’ as cancer patient April Carver.  She has also had ongoing roles on ‘Aaron Stone’, ‘Secret Girlfriend’ and ‘Unnatural History’.  Coincidentally, she is engaged to Robbie Amell who played Ronnie Raymond, half of Firestorm, on ‘Arrow’ which is also produced by Kreisberg and Greg Berlanti.

As for her role, Silver Banshee was originally an ancient Scottish woman who had magically been granted immortality and various super powers, most notably a mystic scream that caused people to age– potentially until they died.  More recently, she was shown to have an ability to learn new languages, even those that are alien in origin, in moments.  This may prove useful considering the extraterrestrial threats on ‘Supergirl’.

She was played by Odessa Rae on an episode of ‘Smallville’ and has also appeared in various animated features.  At one point, she was considered to appear in a Superman film in the 1990s, but that project was mired in production hell and never materialized.

‘Supergirl’ has borrowed heavily from DC Comics’ library of characters, mainly those typically associated with Superman.  And even though Silver Banshee started off as a Superman foe, in more recent years, she has more often battled his cousin Supergirl, who doesn’t have much of a rogue’s gallery of her own.  So in some ways, this could be considered the first real SuperGIRL villain on the show.

Are you excited to see Silver Banshee on ‘Supergirl’?  How do you think Italia Ricci will handle the role?

Source: The Hollywood Reporter