Late Sunday evening journalists from across the globe were treated to an early sneak peek at today’s trailer for Supergirl. But that wasn’t all. Following our first watch at footage from the film we were joined on a Zoom call by DC Studios co-chair James Gunn who moderated a Q&A with director of the film, Craig Gillespie, and Kara herself, Milly Alcock.
The trio touched on creating a brand new vision for the character, bringing her in to the DCU and ensuring a bold vision which takes inspiration from Tom King’s Woman of Tomorrow comic book, combining it with Ana Nogueira’s script and Gillespie’s excellent eye for visuals.
We’ll be bringing you what Milly has to say about Kara’s journey later. Firstly we’re diving in to what Gunn and Gillespie have to say. But before we do let’s watch that trailer one more time.
Here are some of the key moments from their chat…
“Why Supergirl? Why now?”
Kicking off proceedings James Gunn posed the question to himself to explain why now was the right time to make Supergirl and how the film came to be.
“The reasons are various. But the main one is when Ana Nogueira wrote the Woman of Tomorrow script it was fantastic. At DC Studios we care most about the writing and so we just instantly green lit the movie.”
Gunn cited Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comic book as inspiring him even more taking over at DC.
“It was something I was very interested in from even before we took over DC Studios. I remember when the graphic novel first came out when Peter [Safran] and I were talking about taking over DC. I called Peter and I said ‘have you seen this book by Tom King?’ When I told him how great it was and what an interesting take it was and I said you know who would be great? That little girl from House of the Dragon!”
So it seems Milly Alcock was always fated to play the role of Supergirl even before the creation of DC Studios.
On Finding a Director in Craig Gillespie
Gunn would go on to praise Supergirl director Craig Gillespie saying that he had caught his eye long before the film was searching for a captain to steer the ship.
“Craig is one of my favourite directors, has been for a long time. He directed I, Tonya which was my favourite movie from that year. But also many other movies that I enjoyed.”
Before handing over to the Q&A portion of the event, Gunn touched on Gillespie showing interest in the project, brining everything together for Supergirl to return to the big screen.
“When [Craig] threw his hat in the ring to direct this film we were more than interested. Now here we are…”
On Bringing the Film to Life
As the trio launched in to a full Q&A taking questions from outlets around the world topics ranged from Milly’s performance to the stunt work and beyond. But one topic which would continue to pop up would be Gillespie’s vision and the technical aspects of bringing the script to life.
Firstly Gillespie shared his admiration for Gunn and how that drew him to the project.
“When I hears that James and Peter were taking over DC I was very excited because I love James’ work. I love the tone. I feel a kinship. There’s a sensibility of what I like to do and what James has done. It felt like a huge opportunity. Then the script came along. Ana’s [Nogueira] script is so good. The tone of it… it was the first time I had actually read a superhero script and I could understand the tone and what to do with it. I was all in.”
Next Gillespie would touch on the casting of Milly, a process which had taken place before he boarded the project.
“Milly had already been cast. I went and did my homework on Milly and I watched the Australian TV she had just done. I was already familiar with House of the Dragon and I couldn’t have been more excited about her as a lead.”
On Milly Alcock in the Role
Talk naturally progressed to Milly’s performance as the Girl of Steel with both Gillespie heaping praise on her ability to inhabit the role.
“Milly was tonally perfect for it. She’s got this vulnerability and this humour and this accessibility but this strength and this acerbic nature that built in to her DNA. That was perfect.”
Asked to elaborate on Milly in the role Gillespie doubled-down on his praise.
“She’s a rebellious spirit. This character, she’s got a lot of armour and she uses her humour and her cynicism to protect herself. There’s a real punk quality to it. Milly just embraced all of it. It’s so effortless for her to dive into that role and do it with a sense of compassion full of vulnerability.”
On Adapting the Woman of Tomorrow Comic Book
Later in the Q&A Gillespie was asked about what drew him to Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow with the director talking about Ana Nogueira’s adaptation as a strength of the movie.
“It was Tom King’s novel but secondarily there was Ana Nogueira’s script which her adaptation of that was just so beautifully done. Honestly, I read the first two scenes of the film and the extremes of what is happening in those scenes. It sort of encompasses the whole movie.”
On the Stunt Work
Of course talk would turn to what James Gunn referred to as the film’s “cool action” with Gillespie openly discussing the size and scale of the stunt work undertaken by the production team.
“It was amazing. We had 6 or 7 weeks that was all stunts and [Milly] just persevered incredibly. It was a lot to do. In fact our stunt coordinator at one point when we were at Leavesden said we had eight miles of cable on stage for all of the ratcheting and have never had that much remotely that much cable. So there was a lot going on.”
The director also stressed that the action in the film had to have emotional resonance and be tied to Kara’s story. With that in mind it sounds like no two action scenes in the film were approached the same way.
“It was really exciting in a way because each [scene] was always a little different. Whether she had full power or whether she had no power. Is she on a red planet, whether she’s fully able to generate power. Also emotionally where she is in the story dictated how these fight sequences go. So if she’s in an angry place it’s going to be a much more messy, aggressive kind of camera work.”
Sounds like we’re in for a wild ride when we finally get to see Kara in action.
Supergirl stars Milly Alcock as Kara Zoe-El/Supergirl. Joining Alcock are Eve Ridley as Ruthye, Matthias Schoenaerts as Krem, Jason Momoa as alien bounty hunter Lobo and David Krumholtz and Emily Beecham who will portray Kara’s parents. The film was scripted by Ana Nogueira who is now also rumoured to be being eyed for further DC Studios projects after impressing James Gunn and Peter Safran with her work on the Woman of Tomorrow story.
We’ll be bringing you our trailer breakdown very shortly so stay tuned for now. Make sure to let us know in the comments below what you think of the trailer. Supergirl will arrive in cinemas on June 26, 2026.
