‘Supergirl’ Writer Ana Nogueira Reveals How Far DC Studios Moved Away from the Sasha Calle Version
Before Ana Nogueira obtained her first major film gig as a writer with the DC Studios-era interpretation of Supergirl, she was already connected to the project. Before The Flash flopped, a different film starring that misfire’s version of Kara Zor-el, played by Sasha Calle, was in development.
Nogueira was assigned the task of penning the screenplay for that spinoff until it was cancelled and the plug was pulled on the rest of the latter-day DCEU experiment. James Gunn and Peter Safran came in to run the new studio, and while they reshuffled the deck, they maintained Nogueira’s services for their rebooted Super Saga.
This has led some to wonder what, if anything, from her treatment meant for Calle transferred over to the revamp starring Milly Alcock. Nogueira recently shed light on the subject in the lead-up to Supergirl’s release this weekend, and her answers make it perfectly clear that the DCU is as much of a clean slate in the micro as it is the macro.
“Completely different,” she revealed in a recent interview. “No, honestly. Nothing carried over. Isn’t that crazy? It was really brand new. I think the only thing that was helpful was because of all that I knew so much about the character.”
Nogueira added, “I knew so much. But even the destruction of Krypton was different,” confirming “The Woman of Tomorrow [comic by Tom King] was really the guiding light.” She went on to express her admiration for the storyline, but admitted she couldn’t lift everything from the page.
For example, she excluded “the panel of the Psychedelic Dragon,” which she thinks “is really beloved and really gorgeous. So that was challenging. I think that particular panel with her, with the Red Kryptonite and the Psychedelic Dragon is just like gorge.”
Nogueira continued, “Somebody earlier was like, I was wondering if there’s gonna be dinosaurs. I was like, ‘I was never gonna be able to be able to put in dinosaurs.'”
So on the eve of Supergirl’s big premiere, we learn it will not be a blow-for-blow adaptation of Tom King’s arc, which should surprise no one when even Hollywood’s most faithful takes on capes invariably have creative liberties.
