TRUTH. JUSTICE. WHATEVER.
James Gunn kicked off the new DCU with a bang, with Superman being beloved by audiences and critics all over the world, creating a lot of hype and intrigue as to what will follow up this incredible start! And now we have the answer!
The first trailer for Supergirl – starring Milly Alcock (House of the Dragon) as the titular character who made a cameo appearance at the end of Superman – has landed, and it looks great! If Superman thought being nice was the new punk-rock, Supergirl is taking it back for herself, because this trailer is truly punk-rock.
Directed by Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya, Cruella), this loud, exciting trailer is full of action, attitude, and has a banging soundtrack to match it. It’s not “Look Up”, it’s “Look Out” with this cosmic-themed outing.
When an unexpected and ruthless adversary strikes too close to home, Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl, reluctantly joins forces with an unlikely companion on an epic, interstellar journey of vengeance and justice.
Take a look at the new trailer below, then keep reading to hear what James Gunn, Milly Alcock, and Craig Gillespie had to say at the global trailer launch press conference that Nick L’Barrow had the pleasure of attending!
On why Supergirl was the right choice to be the next film in the DCU following Superman…
James Gunn: The reason is because the script by Ana Nogueira was the best script I’d read in a long time. And at the end of the day, everything we do at DC is story driven. And so I loved the script, but also, unlike those other characters that you mentioned here, Supergirl is not someone who we’ve seen on the big screen for a long, long time. And I loved the Tom King book, Woman of Tomorrow, so it was always something that I wanted to do.
And a weird fact, when Peter [Safran] and I first got the job at DC Studios, we were talking about what projects we would potentially do. It actually was before we got the job. We were talking about what we would potentially do. And I said, “Peter, did you read this great new graphic novel, Woman of Tomorrow, by Tom King?” And how good it was and how much I loved it and what an interesting take it was on the character of Supergirl.
On creating a Supergirl movie that feels unique from Superman…
Craig Gillespie: It’s interesting. When I first met James about this project, he said to me every DC project that they’re going to do is its own graphic novel. And he really wanted me to be able to put my stamp on it and my own take on it. And coming from Tom King’s book, which is so different, I immediately had a take on it that I was very excited about, and from Ana’s script. [Within] the first two scenes I was in, and then we already had Milly [Alcock], too, which is amazing. And it’s the whole combination, it couldn’t have been a better setup.
It’s a world that I’m very, very comfortable in. Over my career, I’ve tended to be with very flawed characters and to be able to figure out the empathy and what is motivating them and seeing people as outsiders and be able to pull themselves up. And the character of Supergirl, as written, is, she’s got a lot of demons, and she’s got a lot of baggage, and she’s not dealing with it while at the beginning of the film. And it’s a wonderful place for an actor to start, to be able to draw on that and be broken in that way and then figure it out. And so that’s what really drew me to this.
On putting on the Supergirl costume for the first time in the Superman cameo…
Milly Alcock: Yeah. I remember that day, I think it was, was it January? It was hot. It was summertime. I walked into, it was the Fortress of Solitude, and I was like, this is ridiculous and it was such a huge set. And I remember doing a take and then Chantal, who’s one of our producers, just gazing at me and then just looked at me and just cried. And I was like, “Oh my God, are you okay? What’s going on?” And she was like, “I’ve been trying to make this movie for five years. This is a really amazing moment to see you wear this suit.” And that was when I understood. I was like, okay, this is a lot of people’s entire lives trying to put this story together. So it made me really want to do her justice.
The reaction to being cast as Supergirl…
Milly Alcock: Some of the feelings. I just got a text from [James Gunn] and [he] just linked me the Deadline article. That was how I found out that I got it. No one called me and was like, “You got the job.” I just got a text from James Gunn.
James Gunn: Right. No, no, no, no. Milly, no, but I tried calling you first!
Milly Alcock: I was in Australia! I was in my family home and I hadn’t been home in two years and it was all weird. And then I got that deadline article and I just remember just being like, “Whoa, what?” It was really exciting.
On bringing the character of Supergirl to life…
Milly Alcock: I think for me, portraying the contrast, I think that she just is who she is and because she’s set in the context of her much more famous counterpart cousin, the contrast just exists because these people are different. I don’t think I had to really do anything to find that. I think, though, the story in the world create that for us.
I think that Kara’s strength is that she doesn’t hide. She doesn’t mask behind her abilities. I think that the… I’m like, what can I say? I think that she, in this journey that we watch her go on, she has to become the hero of her own story. And I think that we start back… I don’t know. I don’t know how to explain it. We kind of start backwards. So she does… Help me out. You know what I mean? She doesn’t, she’s the opposite.
I think that balancing Kara as a strong, powerful figure, but also a young woman navigating the galaxy. I think that she doesn’t adhere to that standard of her being a vulnerable woman
navigating the galaxy because she’s so… I’m scared of her. She’s so just who she is that I think that she can really hold her own. So I think that the balance is actually between the audience’s expectation of who this person is going to be and how they’re going to have to behave. But thematically, the film looks at just the position of being a woman and having to, the standard of what you can and can’t sacrifice. So I hope that answers your question. I don’t think it does, but I hope it does.
Craig Gillespie: I’m so excited for everybody to see Milly in this. Honestly, it’s always character for me and it’s always performance. And you get into these kind of films, there’s so much mechanics involved, big set pieces, all the action sequences that can be a lot. But at the end of the day, every time I turn the camera on Milly, she just grounds it. And there’s this humanity to you and there’s this vulnerability and there’s this humor and there’s this strength that you just can’t get enough of it. It’s amazing. And I had that, once I was involved in this project, I went back and checked out all your television in Australia. And so I felt very confident. I could see your work from the past and just the range that you had.
On creating the action for Supergirl…
Craig Gillespie: I just don’t watch any other superheroes. No, there’s always the emotional component of the action of like, where’s she coming from emotionally? How angry she is, how frustrated. And that, to me, or how playful she is in these scenes. And so that’s part of the action sequence for me, and then musically what we’re going to do to enhance that or contradict that. And it’s a little… So I try to vary it within each sequence and go through that and just let the character’s emotion dictate how aggressive the camera work is, how operatic it is, depending on what her groove is.
Milly Alcock: It’s just technically quite difficult to be able to throw a punch convincingly, depending on the angle of the camera. And also I would get to work and they would be like, “Okay, we’re going to shoot this fight scene,” that I hadn’t learned. So you’d have about 15 minutes to practice it and then there would be explosion rigs or witchettes and all of these other elements to it. So it’s like if you get it wrong, it’s a while to turn back around. So technically, it’s like an ensemble. Everybody has to cohesively work together.
Supergirl, DC Studios’ newest feature film to hit the big screen, will be in theatres worldwide in June, 2026 from Warner Bros. Pictures.
