Nia Nal has finally embraced her powers as Dreamer, which has equipped her with a new (and totally badass) costume. However, Supergirl’s track record with their supporting heroes makes me hesitant to get too excited.

Television’s first transgender superhero, Nia Nal, has finally arrived on Supergirl. When Supergirl returns on February 17, Nia will suit up and begin to help Kara protect National City with her newly-embraced and growing abilities.

I love Nia Nal. She’s empathetic, strong, and dedicated to what she does. (She’s a lot like Kara Danvers, actually). That said, I’m finding it a bit difficult to get attached to Nia in the same way I’ve been able to with other characters.

The stride to be more inclusive and introduce a transgender superhero is great on Supergirl and The CW’s side, but the show doesn’t have a great track record of writing and developing supporting heroes.

Take Mon-El, for instance. Like him or hate him (I prefer the latter), he was a supporting hero on Supergirl that was supposed to be developed to add something to the show.

Ultimately, he was written off, and nothing he did or said really made an impact on how Supergirl has progressed since his exit.

All of the time that was spent on developing Mon-El was basically, well, a waste. He has no legacy on the show and there are no lingering ties to Mon-El, outside of Brainy’s friendship with him (though there’s been no mention of that, either).

Likewise, Imra’s presence during season 3 was important, not only to provide a rift between Kara and Mon-El, but to also be the tie to the future he needed to return to.

We saw her character develop, her powers utilized, and then she left.

Or, as a better example, take Sam Arias’ time on Supergirl. The battle between Sam and Reign was really something to watch (props to Odette Annable for making the best out of a bad situation).

Even though Reign was the season villain, Sam was a hero and it was her strength and love for her daughter that helped her survive the Worldkiller inside.

Throughout season 3, we saw this battle rage on within Sam, and what did we get from it? An attachment to a character that was written off between seasons and never mentioned or thought of again?

We grew to love Sam’s relationships with Kara, Lena, and Alex, and we wanted her to stick around and succeed, whether she had powers or not. She could have made a great hero if Reign died and her powers remained, yet she took off to Metropolis off-screen.

It just goes to show that, no matter how attached Supergirl fans become to a character, once their initial journey is over, that’s it.

Brainy is the exception, though it’s likely he was written as a series regular because of Jeremy Jordan’s request to leave and Winn’s subsequent exit. Brainy has just be shaped to fit in that role, although he is able to do a bit more than Winn ever could.

With Nia Nal, there’s no telling how long her story will span. She could remain as a series regular into the next season or she could finish her arc at the end of Supergirl season 4 and suddenly take off to go join the Daily Planet or something.

As much as I love Nia and everything she represents (like the insinuation in last night’s episode that Nia really was born as the wrong gender, since she received the gift only daughters do in her family line), I just wonder: how much longer will we get to see her journey?

If history is any indication, the break between season 4 and 5 could see Nia part ways with Team Supergirl. At this point, I don’t have much hope for Supergirl to keep Nia around, which is why it’s so hard to grow attached.

As long as Kara needs super friends, it can probably be expected that Nia will stick around.

It’s a relatively new development, but there are still 11 episodes left to air this season, so it’s entirely possible that Kara will re-join the DEO and Nia’s heroic services won’t be “needed.”

As the first transgender superhero, Supergirl has to be very careful with how they handle Nia’s story and her eventual exit. (It is arguably more important to provide a better, more satisfying ending for Nia than it was for Sam.)

I hope Nia Nal becomes a Supergirl constant and she’s able to shine, as Kara does, as a hero and a reporter. With the similarities between them, I can see that either propelling their stories or crumbling any chance for Nia to shine. It all depends on how the Supergirl writers handle it.

So, while it’s hard to grow attached to Nia given the history of the series, I’m going to try. I want to fully enjoy Nia’s character, as we all should, though I can’t stop worrying about whether she’ll appear after season 4.

Please, Supergirl writers, don’t let us down with this character.

Supergirl returns Sunday, February 17 at 8 p.m. ET on The CW. Watch the trailer below to see Nia’s first outing as Dreamer!