“Supergirl” is soaring into the history books. The CW series has cast Nicole Maines in its upcoming fourth season, where she’ll play TV’s first transgender superhero. The actress and activist is portraying Nia Nal, aka Dreamer, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In the DC comics, the character is not specifically identified as transgender.
Described as “a soulful young transgender woman with a fierce drive to protect others,” Nia’s Season 4 journey sees her “fulfilling her destiny as the superhero Dreamer, which is similar to Kara’s (Melissa Benoist) journey to become Supergirl,” the source writes. Nia’s special powers allow her to foresee the death of others.
Maines appeared in 2016 HBO doc “The Trans List” and is the subject of the 2015 New York Times bestseller “Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family.” She recently finished shooting “Bit,” a feature about a teen transgender girl who moves to LA and and falls in with a gang of intersectional feminist vampires.
No stranger to making history, Maines made international news in 2013 “when a Maine Supreme Court ruled that her rights had been violated under the state’s Human Rights Act and set a landmark victory for trans rights in its ruling that transgender people can use the bathroom of their choice,” the source notes.
Maines made her TV acting debut in a 2015 episode of USA Network’s “Royal Pains.”
Check out a video of Maines discussing her new role at Comic Con below.
