Nicole Maines Is Joining ‘Supergirl’ Season 4 as TV’s First Trans Superhero
The San Diego Comic-Con just wrapped up and we’re still working our way through all the news that came out. One of the most exciting things is the news that Supergirl season 4 will feature Dreamer, TV’s first trans superhero, and she’ll be played by Nicole Maines, the actress and trans activist.
Nicole Maines will be playing Nia Nal, the latest addition to the Supergirl cast. In Supergirl season 4, we’ll see Nia join the CatCo crew as a reporter. Described as “a soulful young transgender woman with a fierce drive to protect others,” Nia will find herself and become Dreamer, the first trans superhero to appear on TV.
Dreamer is not an original character to Supergirl season 4. Her first appearance in DC Comics was back in 1964 as Dream Girl. Dream Girl’s real name was Nura Nal, though it’s been adjusted to “Nia” for the TV show. She’d gone through a number of different iterations — the most recent version of the character is part of the Post-Infinite Crisis story-arc, though the last time she appeared was in 2009. None of the comic iterations of Dream Girl/Dreamer were trans, though considering she hasn’t shown up in the comics for nearly a decade, she’s ripe for a reboot.
Nicole Maines was excited to reveal the news, tweeting, “Aaaah, yes! It feels so good to have the Cat Grant out of the bag!” referring to the founder of Supergirl‘s CatCo Worldwide Media. Maines has previously appeared on Royal Pains and the documentary The Trans List. She also wrote a book, Becoming Nicole about her transition and her activism, including changing Maine state law to allow trans students to use the school bathroom that matches their gender identity.
In addition to Maines, Supergirl season 4 will also be adding April Parker Jones as Colonel Haley and David Ajala as Manchester Black. The cast additions of Jesse Rath (as Brainiac 5) and Sam Witwer (as Agent Liberty) had already been announced.
Supergirl season 4 premieres Oct. 14, at 8 p.m.
