Supergirl is based on Tom King’s Woman of Tomorrow, but the film’s director avoided reading it after getting the job. The film and the comic follow Kara Zor-El and Krypto on an intergalactic adventure.
What did Craig Gillespie say about not looking at the Supergirl comic?
In a recent interview, Supergirl director Craig Gillespie explained why he “very deliberately” didn’t look at the Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comic at first.
“I very deliberately didn’t look at Tom King’s book when I first got the script,” Gillespie told Everyman Cinema. “I went off of Ana [Nogueira]’s script and there was a grit to that and I really wanted to come from character. [Kara’s] going to all of these different worlds that are on the fringe of society. I wanted to feel the poverty, I wanted to feel the crime and the dust and the texture.”
Gillespie went on to say that he wanted to create a “space we hadn’t felt before” after reading the script. The filmmaker started pulling visual references for what he wanted the film to look like, creating “about 120 images” to present to DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran. It was during this process that Gillespie went back to read the Woman of Tomorrow comic book.
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is an eight-issue miniseries released between 2021 and 2022. The series was written by Tom King and illustrated by Bilquis Evely. The comic was originally pitched as a team-up adventure between Supergirl and Lobo, but the final version did not include the intergalactic bounty hunter. The film adaptation features Jason Momoa’s DCU debut as Lobo, marking a major departure from the comic.
Supergirl stars Milly Alcock in the lead role, which she will reprise in next year’s Man of Tomorrow. The film has received mixed reviews, though SuperherHype’s Matt Morrison enjoyed the film, calling it an improvement over the comic in his review.
Supergirl releases in theaters on June 26, 2026.
Originally reported by Rahul Majumdar on SuperHeroHype.com.
