Of all the characters to appear during the recently concluded Arrowverse crossover event "Crisis on Infinite Earths," one of the most intriguing was the debut of Stargirl and her fellow superheroes from Earth-2. The introduction leads into the upcoming DC Universe live-action series starring the the teenage superhero, who becomes a hero herself after discovering her step-father's own crimefighting legacy alongside the Justice Society of America.
In an exclusive interview with CBR, Stargirl co-creator Geoff Johns -- who created the television series while serving as showrunner and executive producer -- discusses bringing the character television, how much the characters mean to him and why Brec Bassinger is the perfect actor to bring Courtney Whitmore to life.
CBR: Courtney Whitmore is an enormously personal character for you and this television series really is a passion project. How did it all come about developing it for television?
Geoff Johns: Well, I wrote the comic a long time ago now -- Courtney and the JSA -- and I love working with the characters; it would always have been a dream of mine to do a series that explored [them] and introduced Stargirl and S.T.R.I.P.E. and the legacy of the JSA to people that already know it and love it and people that don't. This series gave me a real opportunity to do that. I pitched it when I knew I wanted to get back to writing and producing, this was the first thing I knew I wanted to do, to get Stargirl up and running.
So I pitched it to Warner Television and DC Universe, at the time, and I worked with [Arrowverse producer Greg Berlanti], who is one of my good friends and I've worked a lot with him, and he was super excited about it and we started developing it and pitched it and they loved it. We got greenlit and just started rolling and I started a writers room and it was fast; it was really, really fast and it was great. It was the best experience I've had. It was fun and it was challenging from working with all these great people like the cast; it was just a great experience.
But it came about really, very quickly -- I blinked and I was writing the pilot and we had a writers room going and I was calling [longtime DC Comics writer and screenwriter] James Robinson going "Hey, move from Vegas to LA and come be in the writers room with me," and it all came together really quickly and we started casting. It's a bit of blur because I moved to Atlanta for seven months of production! It was a really amazing experience but it happened quickly, like, we developed it and -- boom -- we're in production.
You were mentioning casting -- what made Brec Bassinger the perfect actor to portray Courtney Whitmore?
We looked at hundreds of actors. Rich Delia, who did casting for IT and Shazam!, cast Stargirl and he brought in a lot of great, wonderfully talented people. And, I mean, I looked at hundreds and hundreds of people but right when I saw Brec, she was just Stargirl; she was Courtney Whitmore. She was funny, dramatic, she could do it all and she just had this life within her that embodied the character to me immediately. I watched the [audition] tape and was like, "That's her, bring her in."
And we brought her in and she read again and I met with her and did some testing and taping and that was it, she was cast. She has the spirit of the character on and off-camera, she's a wonderful human being. She's as pleasant and as compassionate and as fun as Courtney Whitmore is. She really is the perfect number one on that call sheet because she helps set the tone for the whole production here. She sets the tone for the set and it's a real positive zone.
You're bringing in two generations of the JSA and the Injustice Society. What character, either based on writing or producing or the actor's performance, has really surprised you and think audiences will really respond to outside of Courtney?
I mean, Luke Wilson's brilliant and Amy Smart is fantastic, the whole cast is amazing. I'd hate to spoil all the characters that are in it; a lot of them have been revealed and some of them will be surprises, I think. I don't know, I loved writing every character and I loved all the characters we played with and it was fun to translate them to the screen. It would be really hard for me to say which character is going to pop, it's going to be up to the audience. For me personally, there are a lot and they're all fun in their own ways and surprising.
But working with Brec and Luke, Stargirl and S.T.R.I.P.E. -- Courtney and her dad -- that's the core of the show. That relationship between Courtney Whitmore and her stepfather Pat Dugan; Brec and Luke are amazing together and I just can't wait for people to see it.
I think I remember you once saying that James Robinson's The JSA Returns was an influential work for you. How has it been working with him again on the Justice Society and what keeps you coming back as a storyteller for this Golden Age team?
His [1993 miniseries] The Golden Age is really what made me fall in love with the characters in the first place; I loved Starman too, obviously. I actually met James when I was in college at a convention and we just started corresponding. When I moved out to LA, we became friends and developed this friendship over the years and we didn't work together this close ever because we're in a writers room all day and he came to set quite a bit. And he was fantastic, he was such an amazing mind to have in our room but also just one of my closest friends to be able to share this together and then do it with all of these other amazing writers -- we had a great room, great crew, great cast, everybody.
But to have James there...everything that's inspiring in the series, if I didn't write it, James wrote it. We were both in the room and it was very fun to do it together. It's not often you get to do something like that with someone that you're so close with but also with material you're both so invested in; there's no one that loves the JSA more than us. It was very personally and professionally rewarding to do it. And everybody worked really hard to push this show. Anyone can watch it, it's Stargirl. It's tone is very dear to my heart and fun and emotional. But we really wanted to push the boundaries of how the show would look, the style, the storytelling and make it stand out and make it feel unique among all the other shows out there. I hope when people watch the episodes and experience it, they'll be surprised by it and James is a huge part of the show; having that mix in there was great.
You mentioned Greg Berlanti earlier and you and Greg were among the early architects of the Arrowverse. We just saw Courtney introduced in "Crisis on Infinite Earths," so I was wondering what was like seeing that crossover happen and have Courtney be a part of it?
First, if you had ever said that I'd see someone adapt Crisis on Infinite Earths after I first read it, I wouldn't have believed it. So to see that come together was pretty mind-blowing. Marc Guggenheim showran that and what he pulled off was really amazing. He brought the multiverse together! It's crazy! And it was great to see and have the opportunity for Courtney to be introduced there at the end on what's designated as Earth-2. When Marc and I first talked about this ending and what he was doing, it was kind of destiny or fate that Earth-2 was going to be designated as our Earth [as the JSA are originally from Earth-2].
It was great to have all these showrunners talk and meet; it's like comic books in a weird way. Greg's like the publisher and everyone's writing their own book and we all get together sometimes and talk about crossovers and our own stuff. It really is a very rewarding and energetic and unique environment to do all the best work you can and Marc is a very good friend of mine too and I love working with him. He's sharp, he breaks story so fast, and he really, really cares about the characters.
You guys really have an innovative release strategy with this. A day after an episode premieres on DC Universe, it airs on The CW and, the next day, is released on The CW App to really hit that wider audience. That's strong vote of confidence. How did that come about?
That was all the powers that be, Warner and the networks, all talking and figuring something out. And I'm very, very grateful for [CW President] Mark Pedowitz and [Warner Bros. Television President] Susan Rovner and everyone over at Warner Bros. Television and DC Universe [Executive Vice President] Jay Levine; all of them. That was all them and I was ecstatic and excited that Stargirl had the opportunity to hit as many audiences, the hardcore fans on DCU and the broader fans on The CW. Everybody's going to have a chance to see the show and I hope they really like it; I really, really love and I'm excited about it.
I'm glad there's a little mystery to it; I don't think everyone quite knows what the show is going to totally be about yet, beyond Courtney and discovering the legacy of Starman and this team coming together. That's fun, knowing we have all these doors to open and cards to turn over and I can't wait for people to see our Solomon Grundy. Our Solomon Grundy's ridiculous! The visual effects house that's done all the work for Stargirl is Zoic Studios and Andrew Orloff is one of the founders of it. The work they put in there, their team blows us away every time we do a visual effects review. Every time they deliver anything, all the different characters and the world that we're tapping into, it's phenomenal work. I can't wait for people to see it, it's truly a cut above the norm.
Arriving in spring 2020, DC Universe's Stargirl stars Brec Bassinger as Courtney Whitmore (Stargirl), Joel McHale as Sylvester Pemberton (Starman), Brian Stapf as Ted Grant (Wildcat), Lou Ferrigno Jr. as Rex Tyler (Hourman) and Meg DeLacy as Cindy Burman, with Anjelika Washington, Yvette Monreal and Christopher James Baker as undisclosed DC characters.