Milly Alcock isn’t the first actor to step into the Kryptonian cape as Supergirl. Still, the “Supergirl” star said she’s taking Kara Zor-El in her own direction and hasn’t reached out to actresses from the character’s past.
“They’re just people living their lives,” Alcock told Vanity Fair. “It’s not like we have this blood bond.”
Vanity Fair specifically points to Melissa Benoist, who played Kara on the CBS (and later CW) series “Supergirl,” and Sasha Calle, who played the Woman of Tomorrow in the DCEU film “The Flash.” Supergirl has also been portrayed on the big screen in a solo outing before, played by Helen Slater in the 1984 film directed by Jeannot Szwarc.
But Alcock’s take on the character (seen at the end of 2025’s “Superman”) has already proven to be a unique one compared to these past portrayals. The destruction of her home planet has left Kara volatile, with the Kryptonian traveling to planets with red suns to diminish her powers enough that she can drink the pain away.
“She’s given this incredible responsibility and doesn’t know how to deal with it,” Alcock said. “So she kind of suffocates herself and goes on a journey of self-discovery.”
“That’s me, man. I’m the mess,” she continued. “I’m not the mess anymore.”
The Vanity Fair interview went up the same day as the latest trailer for “Supergirl,” directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Ana Nogueira. The film adapts the highly celebrated Tom King/Bilquis Evely comic book “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow,” a “True Grit”-like story which sees Supergirl travel the cosmos with the young Ruthye (Eve Ridley), who seeks revenge on Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts) for killing her father.
In the comic, Supergirl is drawn into the adventure after Krem shoots and poisons her super dog Krypto while he’s depowered by red sunlight. The recent trailer confirms this to be the case in the movie as well.
“She’s not trying to save the world — she’s just trying to save her own,” Alcock said. “This film is an excellent reminder that the world can be crumbling around you, but you can be the hero of your own story.”
