Schott for Schott: Winn Confronts Toyman on 'Supergirl'
When early casting reports for Supergirl started popping up, there was some confusion. Why was Winslow Schott, aka Toyman, friends with the hero? It was soon revealed that Kara Danvers’ work buddy was Winn Schott, Jr., son of the supervillain. And when the series returns from its winter hiatus tonight, we’ll finally get to see the classic Superman baddie in all his glory. Yahoo talked with Jeremy Jordan about what it’s like facing off with his on-screen father (played by Revenge’s Henry Czerny) for the first time and what the rest of the season holds for Winn.
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Toyman is one of Superman’s oldest foes, first appearing in 1943. He’s had multiple incarnations and many historical revisions of his character — including one where his son (Anton, not Winslow) becomes the Dollmaker (Colm Feore played him last season of Gotham). Through most of those incarnations though, he’s been a mechanical genius who creates various toys and robots to do his bidding.
“[Schott, Sr.] is trying to convince Winn [that] whatever it is that has made his dad into an evil person, he has inside him as well,” Jordan says. As an actor, Jordan believes that’s not the case. “I don’t really think it’s in Winn’s nature,” he says. And if that part of him does come out? “It’ll be a long time down the road. But that doesn’t mean that he can’t be terrified that one day, like his dad, he’s just going to snap.”
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That notion of suddenly snapping is a scary one. “Winn had a great childhood. He loved his dad, everything was perfect. Then, one day, it wasn’t,” Jordan says. The trauma of that sudden reversal stayed with Winn. “He feels like there is this gene in side of him, some ticking time bomb waiting to go off,” Jordan says. He uses his “wise-cracking, happy-go-lucky sensibility” as a defense mechanism to keep people from getting too close to him for that reason.
Once he deals with his father this episode, though, Jordan says things are looking up for his character. Winn may not have a lot of friends except for Kara, but that changes as the season progresses. “We definitely see the relationship between Winn and James growing. We started out as secret enemies,” Jordan says with a laugh. “And now we’re actually really good friends.” He’ll grow closer to Lucy, Alex, and even Hank, who he still hasn’t met yet.
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“But, I think the immediate relationship that we’re going to be focused on over the next four or five episodes is his relationship with Kara,” Jordan says. James told Winn to act on his feelings, which he does. “We see what happens with that,” he promises.
Supergirl airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on CBS.
