#supergirl cbs

[callmebrycelee]

HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY, LOU FERRIGNO, JR!!!

[rhfffas]

okay lesbians

[forsapphics]

Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers in season 6 of Supergirl (2015 - 2021)

[karaspal]

every time someone calls kara “a golden retriever”, an actual golden retriever dies.

[cyclone-rachel]

Kara is happy.

Isn’t she?

Yes. She knows that everything that’s happened is good- Earth has not been conquered, and will not become the latest victim of her Brainiac’s destruction. Kal-El Clark has saved her, taken her to his home, with his parents that never have a bad thing to say about her, never berate her or call her a failure despite what harm she could have done to their son, her cousin. She knows the truth now- that they didn’t teach him how to hide, but about real family, and love, and humanity. Just as he’d told her, and she hadn’t initially understood.

(neither she nor Clark have told them of the full extent of that fight, nor what happened afterwards. It’s for the best, he told her, and she agreed)

She’s working with him now, as well as Lois and Jimmy. As crimefighters, at the Daily Planet- it’s all the same, and Kara loves it. Whether she’s wearing the Flamebird jacket that Jimmy gave her (that she now knows is not his last name but instead the part of the Daily Planet he’s responsible for) as Kara Kent or her new suit as Supergirl (as the news has named her- someone named Cat Grant’s idea, apparently), both just feel right. Like the outfit she wore when she first came to this planet for reconnaissance… and much better than the armor she used to wear. Lois has even offered to take her shopping, and though she hadn’t been sure what that meant, she accepted, finding herself surrounded by all-new clothing choices, so many more outfits than she’d ever been given the option to have before. Not to mention, so much food- what Jimmy had bought for her during their day together was only a small sampling of what this planet had to offer, and Lois was more than happy to show her more examples.

(And it was nice, finally getting to spend more time with her. Lois had forgiven her, it seemed, and whether it was through Jimmy’s persuasion or not, she’s still satisfied with it, as now they can put the past behind them)

(Or at least, Lois can.)

Because through it all, there are still some things she cannot get rid of, cannot bury.

She often thinks of her private collection, on her ship- her little rebellion against her father, full of memories and mementos from other planets she believed would once become a part of the Kryptonian empire, places she’d loved enough to keep a part of… as she later found out, the only things left of them at all.

Not that it mattered, in the end. Her spaceship, along with the rest of Kandor, had been destroyed, and everything she’d tried to preserve went with it.

Just as Father wanted.

And yet, what had she held on to? A piece of him, the only part that had been left fully intact after she’d hurled him into the sun. When she woke up in Clark’s home, it was beside her, now just a chunk of dead metal.

She was surprised he’d held onto it for her. The last thing she had remembered, as she and Clark floated there in the light of the sun, was her letting go of it- at peace with his death. The Kryptonian empire had passed with him, and in its place was simply her and Clark. Two Kryptonians living among the people of another planet, satisfied with not conquering it but just existing, being there and taking in everything there was to experience. Being heroes to these people, drawing power from the sun that orbited their world and channeling it to fight any evildoers that threatened them. If a version of herself from several months ago could see her now, she’d call herself soft, like she’d believed her cousin was… but she was discovering more every day that maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing to be. She was happy, to do all of this with her new family.

And yet she still remembers her other family, thinks back to the memories he’d left untouched throughout all of his demands for her to comply. When she had grown old enough, he had taught her everything she thought she knew about Krypton, the dead world they were going to bring back together. He trained her to fight, set up countless simulations of battles against anyone who might stand in their way, threaten the rebirth of the empire. It was her whole life, her whole personality, the reason she existed in the first place. As he taught her, she had ended up in his care for such a purpose. Her destiny, to remake the world she should have gotten to experience, with his assistance, and show the rest of the universe the same kindness.

(it was too late that she’d learned how little a choice she had in the matter, and that there was nothing kind about what they were doing)

She remembers the first time she called him Father, the first time he held her hand and acknowledged her as his daughter, his scion. He’d claimed he loved her, despite what he had done, and in alignment with that, she couldn’t have helped but said the same. She’d believed that as long as she could- until she saw him take over her cousin’s body, and try to do to Earth the same he’d done to all those other worlds without her knowledge.

The same they’d both done, rather. Over many planets, the two of them… or at least him and the version of herself that he’d made to obey his every command. But she was done with that. Done with him.

Was she?

She’d thought so, until she saw his core on her bedside table.

In any case… there was only one person she could talk to about this.

~

“Clark?” she asks, one day when they both have an evening free, and they decide to go home together for a family dinner. She still stumbles over his Earth name, but she’s getting more used to it as time has gone by. “Why did you… keep this for me?”

She holds it up, and Clark doesn’t look surprised.

“That’s what you wanted, right? You said taking out his mainframe would be the way to defeat him, and I assumed that was it.”

“It is.” Kara answers, now holding what remained of Brainiac in both hands. “I… did not expect we would stop him in the way that we did, but he is gone now. It is over.”

It’s over, she thinks, but as she looks down, she realizes she doesn’t know what happened during part of that fight. The last time he would compel her to comply with him, an even stronger hold on her than before, she remembers being in the ship beside Kal-El… and then on the ground, in Clark’s city, being held onto by Clark and Jimmy and Lois. Her new friends, whose belief in her was stronger than Brainiac’s control.

She’ll have to ask Clark about that, too.

Clark nods. “I wanted to make sure you saw that- that he’s gone, and he’s never coming back.”

“I knew that.” She says, trying to make a joke. “But…”

“Don’t worry.” He tells her. “Nobody else knows about this- nobody’s going to get their hands on this piece of him, and try to bring him back… if that’s what you were worried about.”

“I was not even considering it.” She answers. “I actually wanted to know… are you upset with me? For holding onto it?”

Knowing all that he’s done to both of us, she finishes silently. But he places a hand on her shoulder, and smiles at her.

“Why would I be? I know he meant a lot to you, and how badly you wanted to make him proud of you. He was the only father you knew- if I was in your place, I’d do the same thing.”

He looks sad, suddenly, at that, and Kara wants to know more- Brainiac had mentioned Jor-El before, but she knows now there’s so much that he didn’t tell her, or told her differently than her cousin would.

“He was a monster.” She answers. “And you would still let me keep a piece of him?”

“I don’t want to tell you what you can and can’t collect.” He says. “I know he tried to- but that’s not me.”

“I’m glad he’s gone.” Kara clarifies- grateful that he was there with her, when that all happened. That they could put him to rest for good, truly move into a more peaceful era like their parents had wanted to. “I just…”

She doesn’t even know how to put it into words.

“Whenever you want to talk more about it, I’m here.” Clark says, squeezing her shoulder. “I know I wasn’t ready to face my Kryptonian heritage for a while. I was scared to even talk to a hologram of the person I now know is my father. I can’t even begin to imagine what you’re going through.”

Kara smiles, finally, and puts down the mainframe to hug her cousin, which he accepts to hug her in return.

“Thank you.”

[strdstwanderer]

I appreciate MAWS Jimmy so much. The biggest change is his race, and that's it. He's still Jimmy to his core. Unlike Supergirl, that made him a tall, hot, attractive, deep voiced jock of a man that was the problem. Seriously, CBS's Supergirl was so afraid to have Jimmy be Jimmy that he went by "James" the whole show. Why even have him there? Why even make him Jimmy? They could have called him Pete Ross, and nothing would have changed. He was a good character. He just wasn't Jimmy because the show didn't want him to be.

They made James Kara's love interest, which is fine. But he was written so much to be her Lois, to the point that he had a history with Lois' sister. This change wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact we also got Win, who was basically the show's actual Jimmy Olsen stand in.

[bisupergirl]

society if show!kara said fuck the deo in season 1 and solely worked with winn and james out of the abandoned catco office

[world-of-celebs]

10th August 2015 - Melissa Benoist at the 2015 CBS TCA at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles.

[heroofshield]

10 shows meme

tagged by @scknight05 and these are in no specific order also tagging anyone who wants to do this! <3

CBS SWAT

yes it's copaganda but at the same time it went the B99 route and addressed how fucked up the police are when it comes to interacting with minorities and what they can do to address it.

2. Legends of Tomorrow

still salty at how they brought on Donald Fazon only to cancel the show and not give us any closure. I love my band of queer idiots

3. Vikings: Valhalla

spin-off of Vikings and it's really well done. A bit convoluted/Game of Thrones-y at times but I enjoy it

4. Sex in the City

Never watched the original run since we didn't have HBO growing up, but it's comforting to see that the issues women face in their 30s never change

5. Bridgerton

Love my anachronistic Regency romance show, lol give me my disaster bi Benedict season goddamn it

6. The Middle

If you're not in the midwest of the US, just watch this show and it's 90% accurate lol

7. Gilmore Girls

would come home from school and watch this until dinner was ready, it's a comfort show for me also the more i work a front desk, the more Michel is A Mood

8. Charmed

Another show I would watch reruns of when home from school (that and Angel). Recently rewatched it and it's still good (even if TNT lost the rights to the music and replaced it with horrible stuff and you can tell when the budget got slashed)

9. Star Trek: Next Generation

My sister and I would watch reruns of Next Gen during the summer and it introduced sci-fi to us. To this day, I can see a summary of an episode and know which one it was.

10. Supergirl

we don't talk about the last season Very good show highly recommend. Loved the inter-show crossovers (even if they were a pain in the ass to film) and the friendship between Kara and Barry, which IMO wasn't shown enough. Also totally gay for Katie McGrath in this

[cipher04]

Fandom Frenzy (Doubling friendly) Seeking Roleplay Partners

Note: Not replacing any current partners, just always seeking to add more partners.

About Me:

I am 18+ and will only write with partners who are also 18+

Willing to double as any gender, any pairing, any fandom

Prefers writing male characters in male x female relationships (will do AxA when doubling)

Enjoys romance and action in my stories

Laid-back, communicative. I will not ghost you!

Flexible writer, quality posts: post length varies depending on the plot and the post, but my typical range is 1-3+ paragraphs

Attempts to reply every 1-2 days, but will let you know about any unintended absences

Prefers third-person

Willing to play canon characters and original characters

Prefers long-term stories

Most of all, I enjoy writing and collaborating. I consider myself easy to get along with and being able to bring my writing partner joy with each reply is something that drives my passion for this hobby!

Open to nsfw

Bonus: Not required, but I enjoy sibling dynamics. Keep in mind, I'm talking about platonic sibling interactions. If we're doubling with OC/Canon, it could be particularly interesting for our OCs to be siblings. It increases the depth of our world and increases interaction between characters. Again, not required. 

You can add me on discord at fandomfan#0404 or send a chat or message if interested.

Fandoms:

Seeking partners who are willing to play a canon female character. I have plots, pairings, and ideas for each fandom that I list here.

I am not picky. I will not be upset if you do not portray the character with 100 percent accuracy. Please, do not expect that there will be pressure to be perfect. I enjoy it when my partner adds their own twist, anyway

Willing to double and play as anyone you want in return!

Canon characters that I am seeking a partner to play will be listed under the fandom

Fandoms:

Pairings that I am seeking are listed beside the character, but these are not the only pairings I am willing to do. Again, for your half, I'll do whatever you want.

Here is the link to the entire list of my fandoms: https://cipher04.tumblr.com/post/678212321698611200/muse-post

If you will play someone from my list below, I can play something from any of these fandoms if you so desire! There might be others I know about as well so feel free to suggest other fandoms too

Arrowverse

Supergirl

Fear The Walking Dead/The Walking Dead

Alicia Clark

Maggie Greene

Nancy Drew (CW TV show)

Nancy Drew

Riverdale

Betty Cooper

The Lost World (1999 TV series)

Veronica Layton

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Cassie Lang

Wanda Maximoff

Natasha Romanoff

Karen Page

Kate Bishop

Carol Danvers

Outer Banks

Sarah Cameron

FBI

Nina Chase

Saint X

Emily Thomas

RPF: With the Women's World Cup going on, I am would absolutely love it if someone could play Alex Morgan from the USWNT for me! I would love to pair her with a male character, either a male OC, another athlete/celebrity, or even her actual husband if you're a fan of their relationship. If I'm using an OC, I am open to a number of pairings from my OC being her coach, to the OC being another professional athlete, an athletic trainer, or even just an average Joe! Tons of ideas here. However, if you like the idea but aren't a fan of Alex, I'm down to hear out any other footballer that you might wish to portray. I am willing to double with RPF as well and can play any celebrity you want, not just limiting it to sports!

If interested, you can react to my post or you can send me a chat. Thanks!

[goshdarnitjay]

The Cat Burglar (1/1)

Fandom: Supergirl (2015) / Catwoman (Comics)

Pairing: Alex Danvers x Selina Kyle

Length: 3.3k

Rated: T

Summary:

Pressing her back against the wall, Selina closed her eyes and focused her ears on her surroundings. She could hear footsteps and quiet whispers. Then, she heard the unmistakable clicking sound of a nightguard’s radio turning on, and her own modified earpiece crackled to life.

“She’s not here,” the man said, sounding annoyed and slightly out of breath.

“Keep looking,” another man said, sounding almost bored. “She’ll be popping up on one of the cameras sooner or later. I’ll point you in the right direction when she does. The cops will be here soon. She won’t get away; trust me.”

+++

or, Selina is out on a heist, when her two favorite cops stumble on the scene, and Selina once again realizes the benefits of having a cop girlfriend.

If you want to support me and my endeavors: Here Be My Ko-Fi. Here Be my Patreon. Patrons get 1 day early access to every story and can vote on future projects.

Due to AI-scraping, I have restricted all of my stories to AO3-users only. If you need an invite, send me a private msg with your e-mail address and I will send you an invite. I still have a few.

Here is the Link to the story! :)

[itshype]

Reverse Bruce (DC x DP)

Danny adopts Jason who stumbles into a natural portal aged 7. He does not miss Willis. Danny is currently the Ghost King and living full time in the zone.

Danny loves his son. I'm picturing him as a colossus like in Blister Pack if you know that fic, but you don't have to. He dotes on his human child and protects him with ferocity that straight up scares any of his rowdier subjects. They touch him and they're about to discover what comes after the afterlife.

Then five years later, when Jason is 12, either under the power of a rogue or by stumbling back out the way he came, Jason is returned to his Earth.

Danny immediately starts to look for him. But the realms are infinite. Jason could be anywhere inside or outside the realms. Danny and his army have to check every single person on every single version of Earth.

If Jason rejoins the infinite realms, Danny will know. Other than that, all he can do is look.

Jason knows this. So, all he can do is wait. On the streets of Gotham. He waits for his dad.

Jason does okay, he was 7 when he left so he remembers enough about the 'real' world to take care of himself and not be declared a raving lunatic or shanked.

Batman picks him up not for taking his tyres, but because Jason was investigating Batman in case he was a ghost. Jason tells Bruce, Alfred, Grayson, anyone who will sit still long enough that he's not Bruce's new kid. Jason will just stay with him until his Dad comes to get him.

Willis died in prison years ago. They tell him and are concerned that it's not sinking in when he doesn't seem to care.

Jason still becomes Robin, his time in the Zone giving him excellent aerial abilities as he's used to operating without pesky gravity harshing his vibe. So once he's got a grapple gun he's good to go. He and Dick bond beautifully over it.

(There is so much content in Jason raised by Danny as a concept.)

Over time he grows to care about Bruce but insists that he still has a dad who loves him. He declines a legal adoption.

Three years later, Jason is dying in Ethiopia. He calls out for Bruce and then Danny. Neither can hear him. Then he's dead.

Danny's still looking over in the CBS Supergirl universe.

Bruce is only a mile away.

Jason wakes up in his coffin and the next part goes how you would think.

Then Danny shows up. An army of ghosts cloud the sky and demand the son of their king back. They're threatening but non-violent.

The king - while terrifying - is actually fairly reasonable when confronted by the Justice League and UN representatives.

Then Danny feels it when Jason comes into contact with a pool of ectoplasm leeching right from the infinite realms. Someone has his kid. Possibly the same person who took or lured him away from the realms. Someone has his son and they're hiding him away from Danny.

[lands-of-fantasy]

DCTV x The CW/WB (2001-24)

Smallville (2001–11)

Birds of Prey (2002-03)

Arrow (2012-20)

The Flash (2014-23)

iZombie (2015-19)

Supergirl (2015-21)

Legends of Tomorrow (2016-22)

Black Lightning (2018-21)

Batwoman (2019-2022)

Stargirl (2020–22)

Superman & Lois (2021-24)

Naomi (2022)

Gotham Knights (2023)

Smallville and Birds of Prey used to air on The WB, but as the network merged with UPN on 2006 to form The CW, Smallville continued its run on the new network.

Supergirl started on CBS but moved to The CW on its second season.

During its first season, Stargirl premiered its episodes on DC Universe streaming service, airing the next day on The CW. With the end of the service, the series aired its following seasons exclusively on the broadcast network.

[karaspal]

don’t be fooled by my undying love for kara danvers, i hated like, half of the decisions the writers made regarding the show’s lore. i find kara to be one for the few characters who actually got better as the show progressed (which is how character development works). she started out more shy and grew into a confident, capable and a well-respected woman. she made some real change and helped a lot of people outside of her superhero suit. the show had a great balance between kara danvers and supergirl. my love is for her story and character development, and her story and character development only. oh, and alex and j’onn! they were pretty neat too!

[occidentaltourist]

Inspired by a convo with @disquietiswhatitis. :) Maybe add your second choice in the tags.

[blackbird-brewster]

Meta: Jemily Queerbaiting

With the huge influx of posts saying 'Jemily is gonna be canon', I really appreciated seeing this post because OP was completely correct. I didn't want to write an entire dissertation as a reply, so I'm making my own post with my personal opinion on this. (All sources are noted in footnotes)

Before I began this rant, for anyone who thinks this is anti-Jemily. It is not. I have shipped Jemily for 18 friggin years and that's never going to change. This post is specifically my thoughts about queer baiting.

First off, I need to note that the showrunners (and the cast members who use social media) KNOW what a huge queer following this show has and that's why we got pansexual Tara Lewis in S16 [1]. Which, in itself, was SOOOOOOO important!!! Our first canonically queer main in SIXTEEN seasons was a middle-aged Black woman!!! That's phenomenal. (The fact it was horrible rep, because they instantly ruined her relationships once her queerness served it's plot point is a whole other post entirely)

In my opinion, the 'big Jemily moment' Paget posted about on Twitter [2] (and AJ hinted at during a recent IG live) is simply queerbaiting to get people to watch S17. I know a lot of you are newer to the fandom and I love your enthusiasm, I really do, ship and let ship, but listen, let's be real, Jemily is not going to be made canon. The showrunners aren't going to suddenly say (after 17 seasons) 'Surprise, Jemily is endgame'. This show has never cared about queer rep and now that CBS/Paramount have already ticked their queer rep box with Tara, they won't be in any rush to add any other characters to it.

Please buckle in, I've got a lot of thoughts on this matter --

What is Queerbaiting?

If you aren't aware of what queerbaiting is, here's a good definition:

Historically, queerbaiting has carried two meanings: the first is an act of aggressive heterosexuality to shut down queer subtext on screen while still teasing and catering to the queer audience in advertising, public relations, and fan engagement strategies; the second is an existing homoerotic tension between two characters played up on screen while met with derision by the professionals behind the scenes. [3]

The Medium article quoted here is from 2017, a time when parasocial relationships were really starting to take over social media. In 2024, actors are now only a mention or tag away online, they have direct conversations with fans, and this process has allowed for an even deeper form of queerbaiting.

Oftentimes online, actors are asked directly about certain ships and while some ignore these questions (usually to avoid breaking their contracts or other repercussions), others (looking at you, Paget) choose to instead tease fans about queer ships. She's done this for years upon years and if I've learned anything in the past twenty-years of existing in fandom spaces it's this -- don't hold your breath. In it's original meaning, for something to be deemed as queerbaiting there had to be malicious, or at least, purposeful intent to string queer fans along by teasing them with suggestive content about the ship in question, while knowing this ship will never come to fruition in canon.

The thing to remember is, Paget and AJ aren't the only ones who know about Jemily shippers -- the network and showrunners are well aware of this ship too. When networks/showrunners figure out they have a strong sapphic fanbase, they love to use that to their advantage to get more viewers and higher ratings. Queerbaiting is a goldmine to keep fans watching long running shows, look at Rizzoli and Isles, Supergirl, and OUAT for examples of this.

Jemily and Queerbaiting:

Ever since Emily joined the BAU in S2 (2006), there have always been fans who ship JJ/Emily (shoutout to the old LJ forums!). Way before celebs were just a tweet away from fans, back when all our fics began with disclaimers so we wouldn't get sued by networks, we went to great lengths to keep our fanworks far removed from actors/showrunners attention.

As far as Jemily goes, this reply from Paget in a 2009 interview with TVGuide.com [4] (which has now been deleted from their site unfortunately, but there are quotes on Tumblr still [4.a]) confirmed some fans' worst fear -- the actors had found our fanworks online.

TVGuide.com: Of course, a band of fans want her to hook up with Hotch.

Brewster: I know! I didn't realize that fans make these videos on YouTube? A.J. Cook sent me a hilarious one that made it look like Prentiss and J.J. were having a secret lesbian affair. You know, when Hotch was blown up in the SUV, we shot this scene where he's in the hospital and I'm standing next to him, looking at his bleeding ear. Our director came in and said, "Paget, you're looking at Hotch like you're in love with him. It looks really weird." So now, every day, Thomas [Gibson] and I flutter our eyelids at each other.

This was the first time I recall anyone acknowledging Jemily shippers publicly and at the time (Jan 2009), the show was still in Season Four (just before CBS fired both AJ and Paget [5]). Paget genuinely said it's 'hilarious' that fans shipped JJ/Emily. Even now, I'll see people say 'We know Paget and AJ have seen Jemily fanvids, so they obviously ship it too' -- but those same people rarely acknowledge the full context of the original answer. Paget not only thought JJ/Emily were 'hilarious', but then she doubled down and turned her reply back to how she and Thomas liked to play up the chemistry between Emily/Hotch.

While no one can say for sure which video it was that AJ sent Paget, just knowing they were watching JJ/Emily fanvids sent a bit of a shockwave through the femslash side of the fandom. To some it felt like an invasion of privacy, fanworks are by fans for fans -- knowing the cast were poking around in fandom spaces added an extra layer of worry around what we fans were posting online. Fifteen years ago, it used to be quite taboo for actors to outwardly discuss shipping or other fanon for whatever show they were in, and we fans were usually comfortably removed from the actors altogether.

Of course, now it's the norm for fans and actors/showrunners to co-exist online and interact with one another. This connection has opened new ways for shows to queerbait their fans. Pretty much every show has some form of social media account now and there is no doubt that the people running those accounts keep up with the most popular ships and hashtags. Not to mention that actors are constantly barraged with questions about whether they ship their character with x,y,z, or whether they think a ship should be made canon, etc. These interactions only serve to benefit the shows themselves, because whether the conversation is for or against a certain ship, it's all just free publicity (Why do you think CM now has a TikTok account?)

Every time AJ or Paget say anything about Jemily, the queer side of the fandom loses their minds. But this has been going on for YEARS now and every single time, it turns out to be nothing but social media hype and queerbaiting. Remember this AJ post? [6] Or what about the notorious reply by Paget to a fan, where she talks about how she and AJ held hands under the table 'for the shippers' [7] I've seen this cycle over and over again, so perhaps I am cynical, but I'm not getting my hopes up that Jemily will ever seriously be canon.

It's widely known now, after both Kirsten [8] and Paget [9] have talked about it, that there was an early idea where Prentiss was supposed to be queer, but that was ultimately scraped before it ever made it on screen. For context, please remember, this show has been airing for nearly twenty years. It began in 2005, during the highly conservative Bush administration. Queer people didn't have rights in the US, we couldn't get married, we were rarely protected under discrimination laws, and we could even be fired for simply being queer (in some states). Diverse queer representation on screen was extremely limited to things like 'The L Word' and 'Queer as Folk' (both aired on Showtime, so they were behind a paywall. And as far as tLw goes, that show was extremely male-gaze focused and is horrible in nearly all regards if you try to rewatch it now). As far as prime time shows went, queer rep was even more rare. Which is why Emily wasn't queer from the get-go.

Yes, things have changed since 2006 in terms of queer rep on TV. We have a myriad of queer identities represented in TV and film nowadays, which is why I think it's so easy for newer fans to say 'lf she was supposed to be gay anyway, they should just make Emily queer in canon!' I know this is what fuels most fans' demands for Emily being confirmed queer, and I get it, I DO. I would be all for it! However, I do not, in one hundred years, actually believe that is going to happen after they already canonically queer confirmed Tara in S16. The fact we even got ONE queer character is ground-breaking for this show.

It's also worth noting, that in the time between Paget's departure in 2012 and her return in 2016, she became very active on Twitter. This was when more and more fans began asking her about Jemily and after Kirsten's AfterEllen interview, fans also pushed for Paget to address the possibility of Emily being gay. 'Pushed' is actually an understatement for some of the outright harassment she would receive. (AJ received some of this harassment too, but less so because she doesn't use social media ass often) Back then, neither of them replied to these things directly. Yet, no matter what either woman posted, the replies were full of Jemily stans begging for her acknowledgement. (Did you know 'stan' is literally a term coined for stalker fans?) I remember one time AJ's friend was missing and she posted info on her IG about it, you know what the replies were? People asking her about Jemily. It was genuinely sickening.

Within this context, it was no surprise to fans when Emily came back in S12 , she and JJ's friendship was seemingly erased. The two women were rarely on screen together in the late seasons, plus the writers saw fit to even give Emily not only one (Mark in London, but two, on-screen boyfriends for the first time in the entire series. I personally do not think these changes to Emily's character were coincidence, I saw the hellscape of what people would say to AJ and Paget online and I fully believe that upon Paget's return to the show, the showrunners purposely tried to distance JJ and Emily to dissuade the more abusive side of the fanbase.

Can I prove that, no. But it is the only reason I can think of as to why Emily S12+ seemingly didn't care about JJ anymore, despite their deep and meaningful friendship. I mean, they both CROSSED THE WORLD to go rescue each other in prior canon -- but when Emily comes back, they acted like they barely knew each other. This was even more prevalent in S16, when JJ's main storylines all revolved around Will, and Emily barely looked at JJ in the entirety of ten episodes. (Remember how Prentiss didn't even hug JJ after bomb, but she did go hug Luke?)

So, do Paget and AJ earnestly ship Jemily, or are they continuing the long tradition of queerbaiting us? Who fucking knows, not me. But based on the history of this fandom, I think I can make a safe bet. (Interestingly, if you search all of Paget's twitter for the word 'Jemily' [10] she only has 3 direct tweets mentioning the ship. I don't think it's a coincidence that two are within the past few months since they started filming S17 (the other one was a RT of Kirsten (who tagged something Jemily)

This is all to say --

Just because Paget and AJ have publicly talked about Jemily,, this doesn't mean it's ever going to happen on screen. And you know what, THAT'S OKAY!! There has been this constant outcry (after Tara became queer confirmed) of 'Do Emily next' or 'Why wasn't it Emily with a girlfriend!?' and 'Jemily needs to be canon in S17!' -- as if people believe their ships aren't worth anything unless they are canon.

That couldn't be further from the truth! Fandom is built on headcanons and fan interpretations and rare pairs and all types of shippers. Your ship does NOT need to be canon for you to enjoy it. I will ship Jemily forever, no matter what. I don't think there will be some magical queer plot in S17, at best, we might actually get to see Emily/JJ on screen together again and after the train wreck that was S16 -- I'll take whatever I can get.

And hey -- if I am completely wrong, if Erica Messer pulls a Korrasami out of her hat, I will be ecstatic. I will be happy to be proved wrong, but at the same time, I'm not going to lose sleep over it and I'm DEFINITELY not going to go hound the actors about it on social media.

Sources:

[1] 2022 Digital Spy article about the importance of Tara's coming out

[2] 04/18/24 Paget Tweet

[3] 2017 Queerbaiting article from medium.com

[4] 2009 Broken TVGuide link

[4.a] Tumblr quote from the above TVGuide Interview

[5] 2010 Kirsten interview screenrant.com

[6] 2019 AJ Instagram Post

[7] 2020 Paget video on Twitter (via @karasluthqr)

[8] 2015 Kirsten interview AfterEllen.com

[9] 2016 Paget Interview CriminalMindsFans.com

[10] @PagetPaget search 'Jemily'