Team Supergirl has saved Kara from the Phantom Zone, and Nia Nal couldn't be happier to have her friend back -- but there's just one catch. In "Welcome Back, Kara," the Supergirl midseason premiere, Nia will struggle with some feelings of jealousy after Kara returns from the Phantom Zone with her father Zor-El in tow. After all, Nia lost her mother just when she needed her most: as she was developing her Dream powers, which left her struggling to understand her own potential.
Speaking to CBR, Supergirl star Nicole Maines broke down the roller coaster of emotion that Zor-El's return sends Nia on. She shared Nia's joy that Kara is back on the team and explained how the mission to save her friend from the Phantom Zone left Nia feeling stuck and insecure. She also previewed the conclusion to Nia's Supergirl journey, teased the payoff of Nia's last adventure with Brainy and more.
CBR: Welcome back! The midseason finale ended with a big victory for Team Supergirl, when they successfully extracted Kara from the Phantom Zone. Where does that leave Nia when we pick up with her?
Nicole Maines: I mean, Nia is just happy to have her best friend back. I mean, she's put so much pressure on herself while Kara has been away and she's really tried to pick up the slack. So I think she's definitely a little relieved, and she's so thankful to have Kara back -- and Supergirl, yes, of course, but it's Kara who Nia really, really loves. So she's happy to have her back, but then of course she comes back with her long-lost, dead father and definitely feeling a little bit, "Could have been me! Why couldn't that be me?"
How does Zor-El's presence affect the team dynamic, and Nia in particular?
Yeah, well, on the one hand, it's great. Seeing Kara have this time with her dad that she thought she was never going to get to have... Nia knows how bad it hurts to not have your parent there. She knows, and so she's happy for Kara, and she's like, "Of course I want Kara to have that!" But she's like, "I want me to have that too."
I think over the past couple seasons, we've watched Nia kind of get more and more desperate to figure out her powers and understand where they come from and how to interpret them and there's really only one person who can help her with that. So without her, she's stuck.
And Kara got both her parents back. That's not fair!
Totally! Both of them magically survived! She's like, "Both of them survived a world-ending calamity. Why can't Mom come back from a spider bite?!"
Everyone on the team still seems to be struggling with the Fear Visions they encountered in the Phantom Zone. How does that continue to impact Nia moving forward?
Well, I mean, you look at everybody else's and, yeah, we're struggling with our fear vision. Everyone else conquered theirs. Nia didn't. So everyone else succeeded in defeating their dream visions, and then her -- the Dreamer -- could not beat her own dream. So she's definitely feeling that a little bit.
You know, her greatest fear is, of course, something happening to Brainy but, on a larger scale, she's afraid she's a liability. She is terrified that her own inability to interpret her powers is going to hurt somebody. Again. Again, again, again, again. It happens a lot. She's terrified, poor thing!
Nia and Brainy got to have their own adorable adventure just before the break. How will their relationship continue to evolve in the back half of Season 6?
With Nia, it's just nice to finally have someone that she can lean on. Now they've finally gotten back on the same page, and they've agreed: no more secrets. So they've had their journey, so there's not really another Brainy and Nia two-part adventure, you know what I mean? But what we're gonna see is them actually being able to look at each other, being able to talk to each other, play off of each other more. Basically, have any form of a relationship finally! [laughs]
Supergirl returns Tuesday, Aug. 24 at 9 pm ET/PT on The CW.