Nicole Maines – Supergirl

By starrymag | May 3, 2020

By: Lisa Steinberg

 

 

Q) Your character Nia was originally described as a “soulful woman with a fierce drive to protect others.” I think that ends up being even more personified this season, especially in the episode “Reality Bytes.”  She has been Kara’s protege at CatCo, but more than that under Supergirl’s mentorship she has become more confident. 

 

A) Yeah, absolutely.  I have been so happy with Nia’s growth and Nia’s development.  I think she has just completely become grounded and just more herself and more confident and really grown into her character, both as Nia and as Dreamer.  I was looking back on that first scene in the elevator between her and Kara (Melissa Benoist) and I just had this moment of how far this character has come and how much she has grown.

 

Q) She really has mirrored Kara in many ways. 

 

A) I think she has sort of gone from protégé and student being like, “Oh my God, you’re Kara Danvers!” to friends and one of her partners. That’s also been really nice to see.

 

Q) The way Nia has journeyed these past two seasons and the development we have seen with her, both the reporter and superhero, has been so amazing and inspiring.

 

A) It has been incredible to watch from this side of the screen. I don’t know how else to really describe it.  Watching her arc develop and watching her grow and transform and become Dreamer and really blossom into this fierce young woman and all of that growth just seems very organic and natural.  I think they have been doing an amazing job of showing her evolve.  She’s still the same character like she was when she was in that elevator with Kara.  We’ve kind of seen all of that kind of clear up and she’s just blossomed.  It’s been really great to see.  But also, on the backend, watching her struggle with all of this new stuff you’re like, “How would the young reporter in the elevator react to all of this?”  If we could get Season Four episode one and Season Five episode fifteen Nia together, those are two entirely different beasts.

 

The original idea was Nia as a young Kara Danvers and to watch her grow and kind of mirror what Kara has been through over the last few seasons.  Then, it’s been also kind of cool seeing these similar arcs – just to see two totally different characters and have Nia being kind of a Kara Danvers type, to now she’s Nia Nal, she’s a Nia Nal type.  It’s been an amazing transformation to get to watch and be a part.

 

Q) Through working with Melissa since she’s been portraying Kara, have you personally taken away from that as an actress as well?

 

A) Not only just Melissa, but everyone on set because of course they are all such amazingly talented actors and they are all such powerhouses.  Every time I do a scene, especially with Melissa, David [Harewood] and Jesse [Rath] because they are who I do most of my scenes with, they are just so incredible.  To do those scenes with them and to watch them work and to learn from them has been so important for me.  I have learned so much from them.  Then, also as just people, they are all fantastic.  I feel like I have grown just as much as a person being around these incredible people as much as I have as an actor getting to watch and learn from such amazing talent.

 

Q) How has being a part of the series really pushed your boundaries and challenged you as an actress?

 

A) It’s challenging, absolutely. The episode “Reality Bytes” was the hardest episode that I had to do because it was a roller coaster of emotions and that breakdown scene with Nia and Kara was so difficult.  It’s not just crying.  She’s not just sad and angry, she’s heartbroken and lonely and frustrated and hurt and guilty and ashamed.  She has all of the bad feelings. She is feeling all of the bad feelings.  Just playing all of that and trying to make all of that show was extremely difficult.  Also, taking that and bringing all of that and bringing it into a vengeful justice kind of lens and playing that as she is trying to kill this guy who has hurt her roommate and she is bringing all of the baggage from this past seasons and a half and letting it all out completely in front of Kara.  It was a lot.  It was very, very hard episode to film just from an acting perspective just because it’s so much.

 

Q) The dynamic between Nia and Kara during that scene was so powerful and also crushing simultaneously.  

 

A) I love the relationship between Nia and Kara because it has really grown from student/mentor to sisters, I think.  I don’t know for Kara because, of course, she has Alex (Chyler Leigh) and Nia isn’t Alex. But for Nia, Kara was there when she lost Maeve.  So, for her, that relationship is so important and has grown so much from that first episode.  “Reality Bytes” is so special for those two.  In that scene Supergirl is like “Dreamer, don’t do this!”  I feel like that wasn’t a scene between Supergirl and Dreamer, that was Kara saying, “Nia, you’re not alright, don’t do this.”  Then, just watching that breakdown later at CatCo on the balcony I thought it was a very important episode for those two.

 

Q) The speech between Dreamer and Supergirl was so raw and emotional. What was the conversation like between you and the writers with that dialogue, and then you and Melissa on the delivery? 

 

A) Melissa is so supportive always and she is always great about checking in.  I love her so much for that.  With the writers it was really incredible to work with them throughout the whole process because they were so good about coming to me and making sure that I had what I needed and making sure I was comfortable throughout it. But also making sure that we were saying the right things and making sure that the points they wanted to make were being delivered properly.  Then, for that conversation, the most important thing we really wanted to show was how frustrated Nia was with herself more than anybody else.  Of course, she was mad at this guy and, of course, her anger was justified, but more than anything her anger throughout this entire episode (and really the episodes leading up to this) is directed at herself.  She is angry and frustrated and ashamed that she hasn’t been able to do anything that she feels she is supposed to be able to do.  She couldn’t save her mother. She saw Yvette (Roxy Wood) being attacked, but she couldn’t interpret the dream and left her alone.  She feels like that’s her fault.  She feels like the entire situation with Brainiac is her fault because she told him to take off the inhibitors.  She wasn’t honest with him from the start and now he doesn’t love her, she thinks, and she thinks that is her fault.  Then, she didn’t see Crisis coming. So, she’s like okay, that’s her fault.  So, in her mind she let her mother die, she pushed her sister away, she pushed her boyfriend away and then she let every single person in every single universe die save for seven people in the entire multiverse and she thinks that’s her fault, too.  She’s batting like zero for fifty.  Then, when this episode comes, she is mad at herself and she’s like, “I’m terrible. Why can’t I do anything right?  I thought I could stop this one person and I can’t even do that.”  That’s what we really wanted to address with this episode, and I think that came across really well and I thought it was beautifully written.

 

Q) With Nia being a novice at her visions and having a rocky record with them, will we see her honing her skills to turn them from detriment to asset?

 

A) Moving to the end of Season Five, she has now gotten all of this off of her chest, everything that had been bubbling up has erupted so she’s really able to refocus her attention on being a superhero.  We are going to see her visions more frequently and we will see them hold more importance.  We will see much larger consequences.  The issue for her is what we have seen already; is the recurring figure of Brainiac in her dreams.  It’s up to her to kind of suss out what is a vision, what is actually important here, what is my subconscious messing with me and trying to separate those two and try to interpret her dreams.  Throughout all of this she relatively has not had any real training in dream interpretation, that’s the hardest part for her. Trying to feel her way through the dark to deal with these bigger dreams.

 

Q) If only she could go to Kelly!

 

A) I was like dang girl; you should have taken a couple of dream books back with you during Crisis!  She could have been like, “Well, Maeve isn’t going to need these anymore!”  Then, I was like, “Well, that might have set Maeve off a little more, so it’s probably best not to steal from her.”

 

Q) With things feeling so heavily fractured for Nia, will we see any steadiness or grounding within her group of friends for her?

 

A) Hopefully. She has Kara, she has J’onn and she has Alex.  So, that’s good.  But, really for her moving forward it will be difficult because now she’s voiced everything, and that’s good, but every time she goes to fight crime and she’s in the tower, she’s still around Brainiac.  So, it’s trying to move forward for that and trying to heal from that.  Then, for Brainiac it’s like, “I want to be close to her but I can’t let her in on what I am doing,” which is just exacerbating problems.

 

Q) What has being a part of the “Supergirl” series meant to you and imprinted on you?

 

A) Like I said, I have learned so much from getting to act alongside the rest of the cast.  Being able to watch them all work has been so phenomenal.  For my first big acting role getting to do scenes opposite of David Harewood is a pretty good opportunity.  Just that alone for the acting has been phenomenal, but really the biggest takeaway has been the relationships that I have formed with the rest of the cast and the crew.  Going into the show I wasn’t expecting to feel such a part of like a family.  I just adore them all so much and that’s been the best part of this whole experience.  Getting to meet and be friends with these phenomenal people…Acting, celebrity status aside, all of these people who are at their core just fabulous, amazing people that anybody would be lucky to have as friends.

 

Q) You have developed such an incredibly strong support system, especially with so many of the cast whom you don’t even really have scenes with.

 

A) I am so close especially with Andrea [Brooks] and Katie [McGrath.]  Andrea especially. Nia has never even been in the same room as Eve.  Every time we’re like, “Is this it?”  Going into Season Six we are like, “Is this the year? Are we going to see Eve and Nia interact?”  Even with Katie we have only been in scenes together in large groups, we have never really seen how Nia and Lena interact together. My first scene that I had ever done on “Supergirl” was episode three in Season Four, we did three, four, one, two and then five because Melissa was finishing up on Broadway because she’s a legend!  So, the first scene I ever filmed was with Mehcad [Brooks] and Katie.  I was like, “Okay Katie, I am never going to see you again!” [laughs] It’s the same thing with Staz [Nair]. We’re so close but we never have scenes together.

 

Q) I mean, the dynamic for Nia and Lena should be off the charts. 

 

A) I hope in Season Six.  Let’s do like an Ocean’s 8episode! Let’s get everyone in sparkling dresses and rob something.  Everyone knows who has powers now, everyone’s secret identities are out in the open, let’s go rob something! [laughs]

 

Q) “Supergirl” hits on so many topical issues. It has a lot of the show’s core grounded in reality and politics. Kara is the paragon of hope.  In the times of pandemic, how can we take the themes we see and turn them into our reality?

 

A) “Supergirl” at its core is about family and it’s about having these close relationships that survive thick and thin.  So, I think that the most important thing to learn is don’t isolate yourself.  That’s kind of the recurring thing we are seeing on “Supergirl” right now.  We are seeing Lena isolate herself.  We are seeing Brainiac isolate himself.  Don’t do that.  It’s not good for you.  Then, even though we are all kind of scattered to the wind, even the cast has done this because we are all over the world we are still connected.  We all still talk and we all stick check in with each other and make sure everyone is doing okay.  I think that’s what everyone who watches can do at home.  We have social media, we have FaceTime, we have Zoom, we have Skype.  Talk to your friends, reach out, make sure they are okay.  Even though we are alone, it doesn’t mean we have to isolate ourselves.

 

Q) Tonight is the next new episode and it’s Melissa’s directorial debut. I can only imagine ten-fold Melissa’s talent behind the camera.

 

A) It is worth that wait.  I am so excited for it.  Just watching the trailer I’m like, “Oh this is going to be phenomenal.”  She is amazing.  It’s like someone cut off a ray of sunshine and made it into a person.

 

Q) Kara personified.  A ray of sunshine/puppy dog.

 

A) Yes, she’s such a great person.  She knows the show better than anybody.  She’s so smart and she’s so creative.  I am like, how could the episode not be a smash hit.  It’s Melissa directing and Jon Cryer leading the episode. It is a recipe for a masterpiece.

 

Q) Jon has been the most incredible Lex. He’s got that balance of diabolically devious down pat.

 

A) I can’t see anybody else as Lex Luthor.  I am still kind of giddy over the fact that we even have Lex Luthor.  Originally, we were supposed to have him for a handful of episodes. There are a handful of villains and heroes and characters that I think every outlet is protective over like Superman, Batman, The Joker, Lex Luthor and Wonder Woman.  He just blew it out of the water.  That scene with him as the classical music is playing where he is waving his arms around like a conductor and blowing stuff up and the security system is shooting everybody. I mean, that is a gold mine.  He struck gold.  It is so cool. I love his Lex Luthor so much.  The fact that we had him for as long as we did in season four and then all through season five, I am like oh man, this is amazing.  I love it so much.

 

Q) I had read that Melissa really wanted to do a lot more with the Luthors and we saw teases of the Luthor mansion and Lillian from certain social media posts.  It’s a treat for fans to see what we really have been wanting where we get a little bit more into the Luthor family dynamic.

 

A) That’s also just a gold mine.  I think one of my favorite lines in the entire series has to have been when they were in the White House together and Lillian (Brenda Strong) just goes, “Try not to quote Hitler in public, dear. It’ll hurt the brand.”  I saw that and I howled.  It’s brilliant. I love that.  It so much states who they are.  It was perfect.

 

Q) And Brenda Strong delivers those lines so feverishly delicious as Lillian.

 

A) It makes me jealous to not be a Luthor.  I’m like, “I want to be a Luthor! Can Lena have a long-lost sister?  I want to be a Luthor, too!”

 

Q) Is there anything else you want to say about the limited upcoming season we will see or say to fans?

 

A) I want to tell fans to stay inside and to keep practicing social distancing. I think this whole thing could be over a lot quicker if people would just stop going outside for stupid reasons.  After this is all over, ya’ll can live outside if you want to, but for right now stay inside and the whole thing will get over a lot faster.  Keep up morale, keep your spirits up, get creative.