When we heard Laura Benanti had been cast in the Supergirl pilot, we were told that her character Alura Zor-El would be a noblewoman who's "wisdom and guidance echoes across space and time, proving invaluable on Kara’s journey toward becoming Supergirl." This (along with the fact that there's only 9 years between the actresses) led fans to believe that we were looking at something similar to a Jor-El/Kal-El dynamic, with the mother guiding the daughter as a memory from beyond the grave.
But in an interview with EW, Benanti hints that we'll be looking at more of a parallel time displacement type... thing! "It’s very early on, so I wouldn’t feel comfortable saying anything other than our mere nine-year age difference will make sense", said the Playboy Club actress when asked what she could tell the site about her role in the CBS series. "On Krypton age doesn’t necessarily matter. A lot of people on Twitter were like, “She’s too young to be her mom!” But it will all make sense once you see the show." More at the link below.