Amid a polarizing box-office debut, DC‘s new ‘Supergirl‘ just received its most meaningful stamp of approval yet, from the woman who started it all. Helen Slater, who launched her acting career at 18 playing Kara Zor-El in 1984’s ‘Supergirl,” has publicly praised Milly Alcock‘s take on the character in director Craig Gillespie‘s 2026 reboot.
While speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Slater didn’t hold back her enthusiasm. “I loved the new Supergirl film,” Slater told the outlet. “I thought Milly Alcock was astonishing โ fierce, strong and great comic timing!”
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The timing matters because things haven’t been easy for the reboot. Director Craig Gillespie’s film pulled in $37 million domestically over its opening weekend, and DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran admitted that number wasn’t what they hoped for.
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Critics have been split too, especially on the tone and the villain, though most seem to agree Alcock is one of the best parts of the movie.
Helen Slater Recalls Training for the Original 1984 ‘Supergirl’ Film
Slater knows exactly what that kind of pressure feels like. She was 18 when she got cast in the 1984 film, and spent about four months training hard before shooting, including trampolining, fencing, and horseback riding. She even packed on around 15 pounds of muscle for the role. “I was very scrawny when I got the part,” she said. “The trampolining was wild. I learned to do backflips on the trampoline, and then there’s an aerial ballet in the Supergirl film, which we practiced quite a lot.”
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That first film was a spinoff of Christopher Reeve’s ‘Superman‘ movies, but it didn’t do well at the box office, and any hope for sequels fell apart. “I know it didn’t do well because we didn’t make the second and third film,” Slater said, though she added she kept herself busy with other projects afterward. A planned cameo from Reeve never actually made it into the movie, but the two still became close. “I became friends with him, and he was just the loveliest person on the planet,” she said. “There was no ill will or strangeness, just a sweet, very protective, mentor-y kind of person for me.”
Slater isn’t precious about her original film being redone either. She actually likes it. “My understanding is that these myths should be changing,” she said. “We want reinterpretations. That keeps it alive and keeps it going. It echoes what’s happening in the culture right now. It’s fun that it evolves and keeps developing.”
Milly Alcock’s ‘Supergirl’ Cast and Helen Slater’s Legacy in the Franchise
Alcock, who fans will recognize as young Rhaenyra Targaryen from ‘House of the Dragon,’ leads the new movie alongside Eve Ridley, Matthias Schoenaerts, David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, and Jason Momoa, who plays Lobo. The story comes from Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s comic ‘Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow,’ and follows Kara as she helps a young alien hunt down the person who killed her father.
Slater never really left the ‘Supergirl‘ world behind either. She played Clark Kent’s mom on ‘Smallville,’ took on the role of Kara’s adoptive mother on The CW’s ‘Supergirl‘ series with Melissa Benoist, and even showed up de-aged alongside archival Christopher Reeve footage in 2023’s ‘The Flash.‘
The box office numbers are still coming in, and nobody’s sure yet where this franchise is headed. But Slater giving her blessing is something no marketing team could buy. It bridges more than 40 years of goodwill connecting Supergirl’s very first big-screen moment to her newest one.
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