Warner Bros. Television SDCC Roundup: Nicole Maines Cast as First Transgender Superhero on ‘Supergirl’

Warner Bros. Television had plenty of news coming out of its Comic-Con panels, including numerous teaser trailers, casting news and release dates for some of its biggest and most anticipated shows, some of which will be premiering on its upcoming streaming platform, DC Universe.

Supergirl

Three new cast members are joining the DC superhero drama when it returns for its fourth season Sunday, Oct. 14 at 8 p.m. on the CW, including transgender activist Nicole Maines, who will be portraying Nia Nal aka Dreamer, television’s first transgender superhero. Joining Maines are new series regular April Parker Jones, who will play Colonel Haley, and David Ajala, who will recur as Manchester Black.

Nia is being described as a “soulful” transgender woman with a “fierce drive to protect others.” The season she will follow in Kara’s (Melissa Benoist) season 1 footsteps in coming into her own and fulfilling her destiny as a superhero. Colonel Haley is a “hardline career military woman [who] lives and dies by the orders of her commanding officers” and will act in the country’s best interest, even when it doesn’t match her own. Based on the DC character, Manchester Black has a dark past but “easily deflects the brutality of his mission with charm and a sense of humor.”

These three join the previously announced new series regulars Jesse Rath as the Legion of Super Heroes’ Brainiac-5 and Sam Witwer, who will play Agent Liberty, this fall.

The Flash

Chris Klein has signed on to play Barry Allen aka The Flash’s (Grant Gustin) next adversary, DC super-villain Cicada. The second non-speedster big bad of the long-running superhero series, Cicada is described as “the scourge of Central City.” A grizzled, blue-collar everyman whose family was torn apart by metahumans, Cicada is out to take them all out, one at a time, when “The Flash” returns for its fifth season Tuesday, Oct. 9 at 8 p.m. on the CW.

Black Lightning

He may have saved Freeland in season 1, but Black Lightning (Cress Williams) won’t have it easy in season 2. Jordan Calloway has been promoted to a series regular on the CW superhero drama. He will be returning as DC villain Painkiller in the show’s sophomore season. Series creator and executive producer Salim Akil made the announcement during the show’s panel in San Diego Saturday.

Payne is given cybernetic enhancements that transform him into the Painkiller, meta-strong and able to generate an anesthetic from his body that causes temporary paralysis when delivered through darts. “Black Lightning” returns for season 2 Tuesday, Oct. 9 at 9 p.m. on the CW.

“Black Lightning” also got a special SDCC trailer, which you can w

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Legacies

“The Vampire Diaries” and “The Originals” spinoff “Legacies,” starring Danielle Rose Russell and Matt Davis debuted a new trailer Saturday. Drafting off the success of the series that came before it, the video promised “a new generation” of such popular storytelling would be born but also acts as an introduction to the world and the characters for anyone unfamiliar with the first two series. “When we’re young, we’re taught the difference between a hero and a villain — good and evil, a savior and a lost cause,” Russell as Hope Mikaelson narrated, “but what if the truth is that the only difference is who’s telling the story?” “Legacies” premieres Thursday, Oct. 25 at 9 p.m. on the CW.