Why Did Chris Wood Leave the CW's 'Supergirl'? Mon-El's Season 3 Exit Was a Shocker

The CW's action series Supergirl is exactly what you'd expect from the channel that brought the world the likes of Riverdale and Gossip Girl. You know, just a bunch of hot young people doing hot young people things — and in this case, the protagonist is Superman's blonde crime-fighting cousin. Based on the DC comic strips by Al Plastino and Otto Binder, Supergirl has been soaring on the air since its 2015 premiere. Come November 2021, however, the superhero series will be hanging up its cape and officially leaving the Arrowverse for good.

Ali Adler, Greg Berlanti, and Andrew Kreisberg's series lasted a solid six seasons, but not all of them featured actor Chris Wood as Lar Gand, aka Mon-El, the former prince of the planet Daxam. Supergirl's Season 3 finale wrapped up Mon-El's storyline, sending Chris off the show with his character. So, why did Mon-El leave?

After a two-year stint as Lar Gand/Mon-El in Seasons 2 and 3 of Supergirl, Chris Wood was whisked away as quickly as he was introduced. In a show where the city's superpower-donning savior has time to curl her hair in the morning, it wasn't too surprising when Supergirl — aka Kara Zor-El (Melissa Benoist) — and Mon-El started a romantic fling. Fans, of course, nicknamed the couple “Karamel." Kara is from planet Krypton (as is Superman), while Mon-El is from planet Daxam, making them DC's version of Romeo and Juliet.

When Mon-El's mother, Rhea — played by Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman star Teri Hatcher — plans to take over Earth for the future of the Daxamites, Kara and Lena (Katie McGrath) release lead into the atmosphere. The chemical element is known to be deadly to Daxamites. Sadly, this causes Mon-El to leave Earth, and accidentally pass through a wormhole in space. The wormhole takes him to the 31st century.

Mon-El returns to the 21st century in Season 3, married to Imra/Saturn Girl (Amy Jackson). Considering their courtship was solely for political purposes, Mon-El can once again pursue Supergirl, who guided him in hero training at the D.E.O. But alas, Season 3's finale shows him returning to the 31st century with the Legion of Superheroes.

“The plan for Chris was always to have him on the show for two years,” executive producer Robert Rovner told TVLine in June 2018. “We’ve loved telling Mon-El’s story, as well as the story we’ve told for him and Kara. We hope the fans felt that it was a satisfying conclusion.”

Executive producer Jessica Queller, weighed in too. “They both have destinies in different times as heroes. What they did was the sort-of Casablanca decision of putting what’s most important to them — which is saving the world — first," she stated.

"It’s a little bittersweet that one's destiny is to be a hero in this time and one’s destiny is to run the Legion in another time, but I think they grew a lot from knowing one another. They have respect for one another, and they have a respect for the decisions they respectively made," Jessica Queller continued. Chris Wood made a surprise reappearance as Mon-El in Season 5's "It's a Super Life," the series' milestone 100th episode.

While nothing was solidified between Supergirl and Mon-El in Season 5, fans are hoping and praying that the series finale will see the two become one. Mon-El is confirmed to return in the series finale along with Winn (Jeremy Jordan) to help Kara and the Super Friends defeat Nyxly and Lex Luthor.

With this in mind, fans have their fingers crossed that "Karamel" will wind up back together. Until we find out how Supergirl will wrap up, we can take comfort in knowing Chris Wood and Melissa Benoist are married in real life!

The Supergirl two-episode series finale airs on Nov. 9, 2021 at 8:00 p.m. EST on the CW.