Nia "Dreamer" Nall is having a rough time in Supergirl Season 5. First, a change in leadership transformed CatCo from her safe haven into a toxic environment. Then, her boyfriend Brainiac-5 broke up with her out of the blue. When a Crisis wiped out the multiverse, her powers didn't give her a hint of a warning. Even after Earth-Prime was pieced back together, her roommate Yvette was attacked by a villain who wanted Dreamer to stop being a hero because she is transgender. Now, she's struggling with her dream premonitions and what they mean -- all without her late mother's guidance.
Speaking to CBR, Supergirl star Nicole Maines offered a glimpse at Dreamer's future. She revealed how much filming was left in Season 5 before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic halted production and offered some words of solidarity to the trans community for these trying times. She discussed her involvement in developing "Realty Bytes," the show's transphobia episode, and how that story evolved from script through production. She also teased what's in store for Nia and Brainy's relationship, how her dream powers will become important in the remaining episodes of Season 5 and more.
CBR: Like most of the other CW shows, Supergirl made the tough, but wise decision to suspend production due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. How much filming do you have left for the series?
Nicole Maines: It was hard. We were three days away from finishing up every way. Anyway, so we have a handful of scenes that we have left to shoot. So I don't know what the plan is moving forward. You know, whenever we get back is when we get back. I'm on call. They can call me and I'll head back, but until then, I'm just kind of hunkered down with my parents are in Texas.
You really took center stage in "Reality Bytes," which really delved into bigotry against the trans community. As the writers developed and broke down this story, did they approach you at all for your input?
Yeah! No, I was involved right from the jump. Before we got the first writers' draft out, I was on the phone with them and we just talked for an hour about what points we wanted to make. Who did we want this villain to be? Did he deserve a backstory? What do we want folks to take away from this episode? What is the journey we want Dreamer and Nia to go through over the episode? They were really great. Then, even after that first draft came out, they were really great about coming to me for edits or for advice. They did a fantastic job.
Did the episode continue to evolve as you moved from the script to production? Were there any alterations you made as you were filming?
Usually, once final draft goes out, it's usually pretty solid, but -- from the writers' drafts through the production draft and up until the final version -- it was pretty fluid. Things were moving around. Some scenes were set to be later and they got moved up and it was very good. Some lines were moved around originally.
There was one line about trans woman of color facing higher rates of violence that was originally supposed to be in that scene with William and Kara, but ended up getting moved, because we all agreed that it was more important to have Yvette make that point. As you know, she is a trans woman of color, and to show her as aware of her situation and not as just a victim. She's a grown woman; she knows what's going on.
So it was stuff like that, just kind of making sure that the points that were being made and the things that were being said made sense and were delivered in the best, most impactful way possible.
Will we get to see any more of Yvette as the season starts to wrap up?
Not for the rest of Season 5, but hopefully moving forward we're going to see a lot more of her. This episode has just totally reignited everyone's love of Yvette and of Roxy [Wood]. Of course, on set, we all just adore Roxy because she's just a fantastic, fun person to have around and her energy is so amazing and I have so much fun with her off-camera. So I really hope she comes back. I think that'd be so fun.
How much did you draw from your own experiences when it came to shooting the episode?
Really, my experiences to draw from were limited more towards Dreamer's confrontation with Gregory Bowers, because that's really everything that I've always wanted to say and that I think all trans folks want to say to that kind of person -- just like, how fragile your ego is, that you cannot handle a person being themselves, that you feel you have to prove something, that you feel that you have to take down a superhero, because you had the gall to think a trans woman was beautiful. How pathetic!
And that was really just drawing on my own anger and my own frustrations. That was really where I was coming from, because -- as far as trans violence goes and everything -- I am very privileged to never have been put in that situation. I've been very privileged as to never be in a situation where a potential romantic partner has turned on me like that, but it's something that does happen. So it was really about more channeling empathy for that rather than drawing on my own experiences.
I'm a fan of the BraiNia ship, so Season 5 is breaking my heart a little bit. Do you have any good news on the Brainy/Nia front?
Well, they will have scenes moving forward. We will see them interact. It's just a question of, "Are those interactions going to be as uplifting and kind as we would all like them to be?" [laughs] Moving forward, it's really -- because of course, as an audience, we all know that Querl is doing what he's doing for the greater good, and that he's trying to protect Nia. So we all have a lot of empathy for him, but Nia has no idea! As far as Nia knows, she told him that she loved him. He took off his inhibitors. Then he told her that he couldn't be with her anymore.
So, for her, she's thinking that he possibly could only love her while he's inhibited, or for some other unknown reason. It's the not knowing! He didn't give her a reason. So it's like, what do you do with that, when someone you love so much just breaks your heart out of nowhere and then doesn't even tell you why! That's devastating! So it's really a question of, "Would she be able to forgive him? Would she be able to trust him again?"
So I guess the question is: will we see Nia get any closure on her relationship with Brainy?
I mean, we're gonna see her try.
I feel like we haven't seen a whole lot of Nia as a reporter in the back half of Season 5. Is that something we'll circle back around to in the season's final episodes?
Yeah, well, Nia's arc this season has been less about her being a reporter and it's been more about her journey as Dreamer. Season 4 was all about reporter Nia really blossoming into Dreamer and now Season 5 has been more about Dreamer discovering really what she's capable of and what she can do. So, moving into the end of the season, we're going to start seeing Dreamer's visions have more impact on the world around them and we're going to start to see her -- I mean, we've seen her a little bit struggling with her dreams and the recurring Brainiacs in her dreams, and so it's going to be her trying to separate her personal life from the visions that she's having and trying to figure out how to interpret those and figuring out, "Okay, what actually means something, and what is just my subconscious messing with me?"
Poor Nia! She can't catch a break.
This is a rough, like, season and a half for her! And that's why I love that scene with Kara and Nia on the balcony so much, because it finally got to address all that Nia has been bubbling up for months now! She lost her mother, her sister, her universe. She died. Then her boyfriend broke up with her. Then her roommate was assaulted, and then the assailant tried to tell Dreamer to stop being Dreamer. She can't even go to CatCo really and have a good time anymore because it's become a place of clickbait and gossip rather than good, honest reporting.
So she really is batting 0 for 15, and I really loved getting to finally address that and have Nia say, "No, listen, Kara. I am not okay. I am not doing well. I am overwhelmed." To her, her relationship with her powers -- it's struggling! I mean, she wasn't able to save her mother. She wasn't able to save Yvette. She didn't dream Crisis. And so to her, she let everyone in all of the universes die, except for seven people, including herself. So she has a lot on her shoulders.
She's kind of in a place right now where she's like, "I suck. I suck this." And so this season, for Dreamer, it's really been about her learning to hone her powers and be able to interpret them more and so that's why I'm excited towards the back half of the season. Her dreams are gonna play a bigger part.
Tell me a little about how you developed Dreamer's powers and what they look like on screen.
Yeah! So I've gotten really good at falling. I look like a crazy person! At home, I stand in front of the mirror, and I kind of just flail my arms around. I'll practice different choreography for using the dream energy, and so I look insane. I'm sure if there was a fly on the wall, they'd be like, "Commit her. She's nuts." But I'm very happy with it! The dream energy kind of came from... The original concept, for me, kind of came from Tai Chi and waterbending, like if you're familiar with Avatar: The Last Airbender -- all of those fluid moves, one motion leads into the other, was the initial concept for it.
Can you tease your favorite moment or scene from an upcoming episode?
Oh, there are several with Brainy and Nia that I adore and that were really great. And they are -- hmm. How do I describe them without spoiling anything? I mean, they're gonna have people at the edge of their seat, I think.
You've been an active voice in the trans community for years now, but how has your role as Dreamer impacted your role within the community?
Well, it's completely just blown my platform up. It's given me an entirely new kind of following and recognition. It's getting me into things that I wouldn't have been able to get into before.
You know, before I was acting, I was traveling the country with my dad and we were sharing our story. We would talk to colleges and community centers and in schools and, to do that, you have to be invited. So we were going places where people already wanted to hear from us, and we needed to get into places where people didn't want to hear from us. Those were the minds that we needed to change. Those are the folks that really needed to hear our story.
So now, with Supergirl, I am in people's living rooms every Sunday, showing people what trans looks like, showing people that trans is beautiful, showing people what the trans community faces. That alone has been so fantastic. It's totally changed my life and how I talk about my life. Originally, I just wanted to use the bathroom. The school said no. So we went and we had this groundbreaking case. Now, it's the story of the trans girl who nobody would listen to, the trans girl who everyone said, "You don't know what you're talking about" who is now a superhero. That is the glow up I've been looking for!
Now, I can go and speak at schools and colleges and say, "Trans people can be superheroes. Look at us! We can do anything. There is no limit to what a trans person can do simply because they are trans."
We're all living through a tough time right now, but I can only imagine how much harder this could be for the trans community. Do you have any words of advice or solidarity you wanted to share with them?
As we're doing this interview, today is the #TransDayOfVisibility. So it's a day for trans people to come out in droves and post pictures of themselves as happy, beautiful people and saying, "This is what trans looks like. This is who I am. I am proud of who I am." And that's something we can all do, despite being quarantined, despite being locked up.
We can use our social media presence to still be seen and still be visible. Social media and the internet have always been safe havens for queer people and for trans people who can't be out at home, who can't be out in their schools or anything. So, you know, if we are isolated, if we're at home in quarantine in an environment where -- for whatever reason -- you can't be out, you can't be trans, you have to stay in the closet, we can still lean on those communities. We still have those. Our online communities are still intact, despite the quarantine, so reach out, lean on those, lean on your friends in the community. Yeah, it's a scary time but, despite being cooped up, we don't have to isolate.
Returning Sunday, May 3 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, Supergirl stars Melissa Benoist as Kara Danvers, David Harewood as Martian Manhunter and Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers.