James Gunn wanted Supergirl to be distinct from Superman

Director Craig Gillespie says Supergirl will look very different from Superman by design. The film is the second entry in the DC Studios relaunch overseen by James Gunn and Peter Safran, and although it ties closely to Superman and even features the Man of Steel, Gillespie says it will have a very different feel from last summer's blockbuster.

Gillespie brought around 120 pages of images to the project after starting with thousands, shaping them into a narrative that felt tactile and messy. He asked Gunn how much the movie should live in Superman's world; Gunn told him, 'Not at all. I’m approaching all of these films like they’re their own graphic novels, and every graphic novel has its own illustrator and its own writer that make it distinctive, so this is your version.' Gillespie called that answer 'amazing' for a filmmaker.

Milly Alcock’s Supergirl first appeared in 2025's Superman in a brief cameo. The new movie focuses on Kara Zor-El, taking her off-planet where she meets a young woman named Ruthye.

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