Supergirl (2026 film)

• 1. Introduction

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  Supergirl, a superhero film from DC Studios, begins with a birthday. Kara Zor-El turns 23 and spends it crossing the galaxy with her dog Krypto. The trip stops being a celebration when a tragedy sends her on what the film's description calls a "murderous quest for revenge". She is the cousin of Superman, yet her temperament sits far from his. The film is the second chapter of the new DC Universe, and its road to the screen was anything but smooth. How did a project that seemed finished come back to life? Why did its makers want a harder, angrier version of a hero long known for hope? And how did early viewers react when the first footage appeared?

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• 2. A Quiet Cancellation

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  In August 2018, Warner Bros. Pictures hired Oren Uziel to write a film about the DC Comics hero Supergirl. The studio was hunting for new approaches after several critical and commercial disappointments in its DC Extended Universe. It was already being "very vocal" about wanting a woman to direct. The shift toward Supergirl was also cited as one reason Henry Cavill was no longer expected to keep playing Superman, a role he had held since Man of Steel in 2013. Cavill later said he still wanted to return. Production was tentatively set for early 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic put it on hold.

  In February 2021, Sasha Calle was cast as Supergirl for The Flash and signed a multi-film contract. Then the ground shifted. In April 2022, Warner Bros.' parent company merged with Discovery, Inc. to form Warner Bros. Discovery, led by David Zaslav. Zaslav went looking for a leader who could do for DC what Kevin Feige did for Marvel Studios. In August 2022, Tatiana Siegel of Rolling Stone reported that Supergirl was unlikely to go forward under the new management. It was quietly canceled around that time.

  At the end of October 2022, James Gunn and Peter Safran were named co-chairs and co-CEOs of DC Studios. Within a week, they had begun meeting writers to sketch an eight-to-ten-year plan for a "soft reboot" of the old universe.

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• 3. Woman of Tomorrow

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  On the 31st of January 2023, Gunn and Safran unveiled the first projects on their new slate, beginning with a run of films called Chapter One: Gods and Monsters. One was an adaptation of the comic miniseries Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, published in 2021-22 and created by Tom King and Bilquis Evely. Gunn called it "a big science fiction epic film". He promised a more "hardcore" Kara Zor-El than screens had shown before. King was also named as one of the writers shaping the overall story of the new universe.

  Within days of the announcement, copies of the comic had sold out on Amazon and at many publishers and comic shops. Gunn said he was working with Jim Lee, the publisher and chief creative officer of DC Comics, to get more printed soon.

  In November 2023, Ana Nogueira was revealed as the screenwriter. She had been attached to a Supergirl script in 2022, when the project was planned as a spin-off from The Flash. Gunn and Safran liked her work so much that they brought her back and gave her an overall writing deal with DC. Gunn called her screenplay a "beautiful, star-spanning tale". Its strength persuaded him to make this the next film after Superman, an order that had not been planned. The sequel plan now needed an actress to carry it.

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• 4. Finding Kara

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  At the June 2023 promotion for The Flash, Sasha Calle said she loved the Woman of Tomorrow comic and hoped to play the role again. By then she had met with Safran to discuss her future as the character. Gunn eventually chose a different direction. Calle said she was heartbroken and frustrated, because she had filmed an alternate ending for The Flash meant to set up later appearances. She added that she was proud of her work in the role.

  By January 2024, four actresses were being considered for the new version: Milly Alcock, Emilia Jones, Cailee Spaeny and Meg Donnelly. Donnelly had already voiced Supergirl in the animated films Legion of Super-Heroes in 2023 and Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths in 2024. Jones did not read for the part. Alcock had a general meeting with Safran and was asked to film a self-tape a few weeks later. She hesitated. She wanted to "do things people watch" but feared being "pigeonholed into one part". Researching the character won her over.

  Alcock and Donnelly then auditioned and screen-tested in costume on the Atlanta set of Superman. Alcock was officially cast at the end of that month. Gunn said he had first suggested her to Safran more than a year earlier, after seeing her in the series House of the Dragon. He believed she had the "edge, grace and authenticity" the part needed. He wanted to move away from the more earnest Supergirl played by Melissa Benoist in the Arrowverse series, which ran from 2015 to 2021. Alcock found out when Gunn sent her an online article about the news. Casting came first because the character was set to debut in another DC Universe film, reported to be Superman.

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• 5. Antihero and Brigands

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  Raised on a fragment of the destroyed planet Krypton, Kara watched everyone around her die. That history makes her more jaded than her cousin Kal-El, who grew up on Earth with loving parents. Kryptonians heal and gain powers under yellow suns, so Kara prefers planets with red suns. There she likes to party and get drunk. Gunn pictured her as "pixie-ish, but very attitudinal". Both he and the director, Craig Gillespie, describe her as an antihero.

  Her opponent is Krem of the Yellow Hills, played by Matthias Schoenaerts, who joined the cast in September 2024. Krem leads the Brigands, a gang of space pirates and human traffickers. His second-in-command is Drom Baxton, played by Diarmaid Murtagh. Krem killed Elias Knoll, played by Ferdinand Kingsley. Elias's daughter Ruthye Marye Knoll recruits Supergirl to avenge him. Eve Ridley won that role at the end of October 2024, after Gunn reviewed screen tests.

  Back home on Krypton, David Krumholtz plays Kara's father Zor-El, a scientist in the city of Argo. Emily Beecham plays her mother, Alura In-Ze. David Corenswet returns as Superman, and Jason Momoa plays Lobo, an alien mercenary and bounty hunter from the utopian planet Czarnia. Momoa had played Arthur Curry, also known as Aquaman, from 2016 to 2023.

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• 6. The Road Movie

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  Craig Gillespie entered talks to direct in April 2024, and he was confirmed the following month. Reading the script and watching Alcock's performance made him immediately interested, because he understood the "tone and what to do with it". He also valued the creative freedom Gunn gave him. Gillespie calls the film a "road movie" with a darker tone than Superman. Nogueira's scripts deal candidly with the trauma of Kara's childhood. The story follows her journey toward accepting her own heroism. Gillespie estimates that it visits nine distinct worlds, each with its own languages, and he points to The Fifth Element from 1997 as a model for such variety.

  The comic itself drew on the 1968 novel True Grit, and Gillespie wrote that lineage into the script. He also named Logan from 2017 and John Wick from 2014 as inspirations. King's first pitch for the comic was a team-up in which Supergirl and Lobo would echo the novel's Mattie Ross and Rooster Cogburn.

  Lobo never made it into the published comic. In October 2024, Gunn said the film would use a three-act structure rather than the comic's, while keeping its major characters and themes. In December 2024, Momoa was reported to be playing Lobo, and he confirmed it by pointing to an interview from a year earlier. Gunn said Lobo helped with the three-act adaptation. He called the character "the biggest comic book character that's never been in a film". The role was reported to be a cameo.

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• 7. On Location

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  On the 13th of January 2025, principal photography began at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden and in London, England. Rob Hardy served as cinematographer, working with IMAX cameras. Gillespie said the camerawork would follow Kara's mood. Anger would bring "frenetically messy, aggressive kind of camera work", while calm moments would feel "more fluid".

  Alcock filmed her first scenes opposite Corenswet, with the two speaking the Kryptonian language to each other. She had also learned five comic book languages for the film. Gillespie estimated that she spent an hour before filming rehearsing her stunts. Later that week, Krumholtz and Beecham joined the cast. Beecham had already worked with Gillespie on the 2021 film Cruella.

  Except at the very start, Gunn stayed away from the set. He called Gillespie a great partner who had "just been doing his thing". By the end of February, Gunn and Safran said filming was halfway done. Momoa and Krumholtz wrapped their scenes in April. By the end of that month the crew was shooting in Scotland, and filming wrapped by the 10th of May. A shoot in Iceland was also expected.

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• 8. Screenings and Trailers

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  In June 2025, Gunn announced that the title had been shortened to simply Supergirl. Tatiana S. Riegel, a frequent Gillespie collaborator, edits the film with Fred Raskin, a frequent Gunn collaborator. Geoffrey Baumann supervises the visual effects, which come from Digital Domain, Framestore and Industrial Light & Magic. By October, a test screening had quietly taken place on the Warner Bros. Studios Burbank lot. Early in December 2025, a budget of $200 million was reported, and Gunn disputed it. Puck then estimated about $170 million. Journalist Jeff Sneider reported that a second screening, during the week of the 15th of December 2025, praised Alcock and featured needle drops. He said the action sequences and Schoenaerts's Krem drew more mixed reactions.

  The music changed hands several times. Ramin Djawadi was announced as composer in December 2025. In February 2026, Tom Holkenborg was reported to have replaced him. By the following month, Claudia Sarne had taken over.

  Gunn released the first poster in July 2025. It shows Kara leaning on the Superman logo, with that film's tag line "Look Up" graffitied to read "Look Out". Early in December 2025, a panel at CCXP in Brazil showed the new logo and her suit. The first full trailer arrived on the 11th of December, set to "Call Me" by Blondie. Variety wrote that it made a clear case for how Alcock's Kara differs from her optimistic cousin. Polygon's Jake Kleinman worried it looked more like a fourth Guardians of the Galaxy film than a Superman follow-up. Kotaku's Ethan Gach praised Kara's line "Superman sees the goodness in everyone, I see the truth" but found the visuals bland.

  Warner Bros. Pictures scheduled the film for release in the United States on the 26th of June 2026, in IMAX. In May 2026, Safran said Alcock's Supergirl would have a major role in the universe's future, beyond her return in Man of Tomorrow, due in 2027.

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