On Saturday at Comic-Con came news that Nicole Maines would be making history on the fourth season of CW’s “Supergirl,” becoming the first ever trans superhero on television.
Variety sat down with the trans activist shortly after the news broke to talk about her character Nia Nal aka Dreamer as well as what the TV casting means for the trans community.
“I haven’t really wrapped my head around it,” Maines told TV exec editor Debra Birnbaum at Variety’s Comic-Con Studio. “It feels fitting to say with great power, comes great responsibility,” adding, “I’m nervous because I want to do it right.”
Maines, who was featured in the HBO documentary “The Trans List,” says she wants fans and TV viewers to take away a better understanding of the trans community with the casting.
“We can be whoever we want, we can do whatever we want, we can be superheroes, because in many ways we are,” adding, “We’ve had trans representation in television for a while but it hasn’t been the right representation.”
When Maines came out to her parents in the late 90s and early 2000s, trans women were solely portrayed by cisgender men as either sex workers or drug addicts, which she said painted a very specific image.
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“They’re men in dresses and that was damaging for a long time.”
Maines hopes the “Supergirl” casting is part of larger wave of the “right representation” of the trans community.
“I think we’re in a time right now where more than ever representation in the media matters. And what we see on television has a very dramatic effect on our society.”
Maines also talked about the recent controversy surrounding Scarlett Johansson, who bowed out of playing a transgender man in a feature filming after her casting sparked an intense backlash online.
Johannson’s casting, according to Maines, would’ve only furthered stereotypes about the trans community.
“I think that cis gender actors don’t take roles out of malice, it’s just a failure to realize the context of having cis gender people play trans gender characters,” she said. “We don’t see the same issue with sexuality, we see straight people play gay all the time. With trans folks we have a lot of people accusing us of just playing dress up for whatever reasons and that’s just not true. Having trans people play trans roles show that we are valid in our identities and we exist.”
The fourth season of “Supergirl” returns Oct. 14 on the CW.
Nicole Maines, the plaintiff who helped set a precedent for allowing trans individuals to use the restroom of their choice, will join The CW drama as a series regular and play the groundbreaking character of Nia Nal (aka Dreamer).
The CW's Supergirl is making some important TV history.
The DC Comics drama has enlisted transgender activist and actress Nicole Maines to play TV's first transgender superhero.
Maines will join the fourth season of the Warner Bros. TV-produced drama as Nia Nal (aka Dreamer), a character described as a soulful young transgender woman with a fierce drive to protect others. Nia's journey in season four means fulfilling her destiny as the superhero Dreamer, which is similar to Kara's (Melissa Benoist) journey to become Supergirl.
If Maines' name sounds familiar, it should. The activist made headlines across the globe in June 2013 when a Maine Supreme Court ruled that her rights had been violated under the state's Human Rights Act and set a landmark victory for trans rights in its ruling that transgender people can use the bathroom of their choice. Maines was previously featured on the HBO documentary The Trans List. She is the subject of the book Becoming Nicole by Amy Ellis Nutt. Her acting credits include USA Network's Royal Pains.
The character of Nia Nal is a spin on the DC Comics character of Nura Nal (aka Dream Girl), who can foresee the deaths of others but is not specifically identified as transgender.
The role arrives as transgender stories are becoming increasingly common on the small screen. FX's dance musical Pose, already renewed for a second season, set a TV record earlier this year for the largest cast of transgender characters portrayed by transgender series regulars.
Maines' casting comes as inclusive storytelling has become increasingly the norm on broadcast, cable and streaming series. For his part, Supergirl exec producer Greg Berlanti — who has a TV-record 15 scripted series — has made it a personal mission to tell LGBTQ stories. "Even with the action shows though, I've still tried to do my part in making those shows relevant where I can, whether it's having openly gay actors play straight characters or straight actors play gay characters," he told THR in May 2016.
That Supergirl plans to introduce a transgender superhero arrives days after The CW and Warners announced plans to team with Berlanti to develop a Batwoman TV series. As in the comics, the character of Batwoman will be a lesbian. That makes it the first time that a lesbian superhero will be the center of a TV series.
Maines' casting — as well as fellow new series regulars April Parker Jones (as Col. Haley) and David Ajala (as Manchester Black) — was announced Saturday at San Diego Comic-Con as part of DC/The CW's superhero block. Maines is repped by Defining Artists Agency and Landis-Simon.
Supergirl returns Oct. 14 at 8 p.m. as part of The CW's first-ever Sunday night lineup.
Supergirl is set to become the first live-action television series to include a transgender superhero.
Nicole Maines, a transgender actor and activist, will join the upcoming fourth season of the Warner Brothers drama as Nia Nal, who becomes known as Dreamer.
The character is described as a “soulful young transgender woman” with a “fierce drive to protect others”.
Speaking after her character was announced at Comic Con in San Diego, California, she told Variety magazine.: "It seems only fitting that we have a trans superhero for trans kids to look up to."
She added: "I want fans to take away an understanding of trans people. We can be anybody, we can be who we want, we can be superheroes - because in many ways we are."
Maines had already made headlines in June 2013 when the Supreme Court in the US state of Maine ruled that her rights had been violated when she was refused access to the female toilet in her high school.
Supergirl is based on the DC Comics character of the same name and is set in the same universe as other comic book characters such as The Flash and Arrow.
Maines said she is keen for viewers to understand trans character's plotline does not have to be centred around them being trans.
"Nia is so much more than just a trans superhero. She is a reporter, she is hopeful, she's powerful, wise and such a good friend,” she said.
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Reilly, Ralph Fiennes A humorous take on Arthur Conan Doyle's classic mysteries featuring Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. Columbia/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock
Maines - who won a 2016 GLAAD award for her performance in US show Royal Pains - was previously featured on the HBO documentary The Trans List. She also the subject of the book, Becoming Nicole, by Amy Ellis Nutt.
Fans celebrated the announcement on Twitter - with one saying Maines was "already a superhero".
The news Supergirl plans to introduce a transgender superhero comes days after the announcement that a Batwoman TV series will be created.
Like the comic book character, she will be a lesbian, meaning she will become the first lesbian superhero at the centre of a television series.
Batwoman was introduced in the 1950s as a love interest for Batman to banish rumours of his own homosexuality.
In 2006, the character was reintroduced as a gay woman called Kate Kane and has since become the highest profile openly gay character of any DC comic.
