Supergirl to cast transgender character for season 4

The CW’s Supergirl is casting a transgender actress for a significant role in season four of the show.

The casting call

According to comicbook.com, the news originates from a casting notice for a character named Nia Nal. Nal is described as a transgender woman in her early 20s. Casting directors do not have a specific race or ethnicity in mind for the character, making auditions open to trans women of all colors.

The role

The character of Nia Nal is a journalist who is described as a ‘young Cat Grant type.’ Cat Grant is another character in the DC Universe, typically seen in the Superman stories.

The casting call describes Nia Nal as ‘a confident, wunderkind of a fashionista. Once a political speechwriter, Nia is the newest addition to the CatCo investigative reporting team. With her she brings sparkling wit and biting humor but under that banter-y, chic facade, lays a soulful young woman who has much to offer the world.’

During season three, the CatCo team played a smaller role as Kara (aka Supergirl) dealt with more metahuman crises and puts her journalism career on the back burner. For season four, journalism may play a bigger role.

Trans representation

This casting call comes just months after Supergirl executive producer and writer Greg Berlanti spoke on a DC panel about the lack of transgender representation in the Arrowverse—or the universe the DC show Arrow and its contemporaries takes place in.

‘We don’t have an active trans character across the shows, you know. And we had a trans actress playing a trans in a show I did that was not a superhero show, eleven years ago. And so I still feel behind the times every day on that issue,’ Berlanti said in response to an audience question about queer representation.

Anything else?

Considering how cis men often play the role of trans women in mainstream movies and television shows, the fact Supergirl casting directors are explicitly looking for trans actresses is significant.

Season four of Supergirl premieres this fall at 8 pm EST on the CW channel.

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