Seeking Out Secrets on the Set of ‘Supergirl’

Back in 2023, when James Gunn and Peter Safran first announced their plans for the DCU, one of the projects they were most excited about was an adaptation of Tom King’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. The acclaimed story showed a very different side to Kara Zor-El with terrific action and amazing imagery. Now the world will finally witness that adaptation come to life, when Supergirl finally hits theaters on June 26th. Today, we are thrilled to reveal that last year, The Nerds of Color was lucky enough to visit the set of the highly anticipated release, where we got to learn some of the incredible secrets and stories from the film’s creative team and producers!

Taking one’s first step onto an alien planet is not something most people would have on their personal bingo cards. Yet in April of last year, The Nerds of Color and other members of the press were fortunate enough to be invited to tour the multiple worlds Kara and Ruthye Marye Knoll visit in their upcoming galaxy-spanning adventure. How was that possible? Through the magic of the brilliant creative minds of the costume department, the production and prop designers, art directors, and the incredible producers that worked tirelessly at Leavesden Studios in London to bring the expansive environment of the DCU to life.

What makes the story of Kara incredibly special is the fact that she is a tragically displaced individual trying to find her place in the universe after she witnesses everyone she’s ever known and loved die slowly from Kryptonite radiation poisoning. More than her cousin, Kal-El/Superman, Kara actually grew up on Krypton, with actual full memories of her childhood. Her part of Krypton, Argo City, actually remained intact during the planet’s explosion, drifting off into space for several years. Unfortunately, that meant growing up watching everyone around her get sick and die from the radioactive bits of Kryptonite scattered all around Argo City. The sadness that comes with survivor’s guilt and PTSD haunts her in a way that Superman would never be able to understand, which is why she has to find ways to numb her pain and loneliness through alcohol and off-planet partying.

This posits a challenge in filmmaking because director Craig Gillespie had to assemble a team that could create these exotic locations through sets, props, and costumes that feel unearthly, but influence and tie back directly to Kara emotionally. They needed to craft details that would signify the chaotic nature of her state of mind, as well as service the greater narrative while introducing audiences to parts of the DC Universe they had never previously seen. Thankfully, his team consisted of many of the most talented individuals we had the pleasure of meeting including Executive Producer Chantal Nong Vo, Unit Publicist Sophie Scott, Costume Designer Michael Mooney, and Supervising Hand Props Charlie Horwood.

Footage and Conversation with Nong Vo

The day started out with a brief screening of B-Roll footage from the film. At the time of the visit, arrived about 10 days prior to production wrapping. The crew had to head to Scotland and Iceland still, but were almost wrapped. We were among the first ever to see scenes and behind the scenes footage from the movie, including our first glimpses of Superman and Lobo in the film, as well as Ruthye and Krem of the Yellow Hills. Among some of the footage shown were Lobo riding his Spacehog cycle and harpooning a goon, Krem having dinner with Ruthye’s parents (as he did in the graphic novel), shots of Argo City exploding, and Zor-El sending a younger Kara away. There were also shots of Kara fighting Krem, Kara hard drinking and partying, and going through the motions.

The footage was accompanied by a super quick introduction with star Milly Alcock and director Craig Gillespie prior, and an extended conversation with Nong Vo shortly after. Among some of the tidbits we learned from her were that the tone of the movie would resemble a bit of Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy, with a bit more of an edge, balancing humor and deep emotion. The movie would thematically be a coming of age-type story with Kara doing the work to finally accept her full self as Supergirl.

“It’s just inspiring to be able to find a filmmaker who you really fall in love with and let them make scripts that we’ve developed into their own,” Nong Vo stated about Gillespie. “And then obviously to be lucky enough to have cast somebody like Milly. This is her first movie…You would think it was her 10th. She’s really, really incredible and has been working 95% of our entire shoot…everything from stunts to incredibly emotional acting scenes, to scenes in different languages…Milly is just turned 25 [as of the date of the set visit], and Eve [Ridley, who plays Ruthye] turned 13 during our pre- production. They have really carried this movie together, and I hope you can see some of that here. We are just very excited about what we’re doing.”

When asked about whether or not Kara will be cursing in the film, as she does in the graphic novel, Nong Vo stated, “Yes. How many times we’ll see. Obviously this is a PG 13 movie, so it’s limited when it comes to ratings.” It was insinuated that she might drop at least one F-bomb during the film. “We want
this to be for everybody, but it’ll definitely be on the edgier side of everybody.”

When describing the tone of the film, she stated, “The tone of the movie is a great balance of… a very sci-fi vision that some people will say it resembles Guardians, some people will say Dune. I think there are elements of both… and of course Star Wars. But you want to try to be really unique. I think [Gillespie] has really done that. He brings a lot of sophistication, but also a lot of color… and a natural humor… some heavy themes, a lot of emotion, but with Craig’s quirky humor splashed throughout both visually and in execution with the dialogue… We had a great script, but you know, every day he’s coming up with alternative lines and ideas that we try, and thankfully we have such amazing actors that they’re able to improvise on the day.”

The question came up about why Lobo was included in the film, despite not being in the graphic novel. “Obviously, it’s public now that Jason [Momoa] raised his hand very early when James [Gunn] and Peter [Safran] started the job to say he loved the character. When we were developing the story… we felt like in a story like this, you generally want somebody to twist it up and change the game unexpectedly. And [we] always look at the characters that we can use to do that…We thought that he could be a good character to be a game changer that’s dropped into the movie…when you’re in space and it’s a superhero movie, it might be hard to maintain the energy…so anything that’s more unexpected, which as you all know, Lobo is, makes the story more interesting…we always also like to have what James calls ‘black hats, white hats and gray hats.”… though Supergirl’s already slightly in the gray area, but still finding herself, Lobo is definitely in the dark gray area. It’s really interesting to have somebody who plays with the gray area when you have Supergirl and Ruthye who are both kind of going from black to white, white to black, etc… [Lobo’s] got a code and it’s just really interesting to see how it plays out. So it was really story driven, but obviously he’s a good resource to have.”

Nong Vo was then asked about what her favorite moments were during the duration of the production. “Watching Milly for the first time…we were obviously working together in pre-production and putting her in a costume, but then seeing her bring the character come to life — she’s so natural. And that was really great. You just see how different she is from Superman… [aside from that] it’s very hard because there’s so many…when you’re finding new ideas on the day, that’s always really fun. I would say the opening with Ruthye and what happens to her family, that was very hard to see it come to life. Meeting Krem was really awesome because that was a whole journey of visual development that we had to figure out. And Matthias definitely is playing with [the role]. I think really it’s just having the actors inhabit these characters, which I sat with on the page for so long. Then seeing what Craig’s done with the prosthetics and all of his ideas.”

As we wrapped up the quick panel with Nong Vo, the next adventure was awaiting us. It was time to head to the center of where the production design and concept art was being stored for the film — The Supergirl War Room.

A Visit to the Supergirl War Room

We made our way to the War Room, which was extensively and gorgeously adorned with dozens upon dozens of concept art depicting the various settings of the film, from Argo City to Ruthye’s planet, as well as the various vehicles being used in the film. There we met Sophie Scott, the Unit Publicist for the film. She was our guide to the various works of Production Designer Neil Lamont (Rogue One, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore) and set decorator Lee Sandales (Wicked).

Scott shared with us a few interesting facts about the inspiration behind the work of Lamont and Sandales. Argo City, where Kara was born and raised until the age of 14, had a very Dune-inspired look to it, while Ruthye’s planet felt a bit more like Tatooine from Star Wars. However, the film tackled multiple locations, as something of an interplanetary road trip film. The team planned for vehicles like Kara’s rocket ship (which took inspiration from Martin Riggs’ caravan in Lethal Weapon) to an interstellar wormhole bus.

“When we start in our film in modern day, at the beginning of the film, we start on Ruthye’s home planet,” Scott stated as she began the tour. “… It’s got a real western vibe to it… Neil had just come back from Japan. So there’s some Japan influence in that design, but it is also feels like the frontier. Very simple… Lee Sandales, who designed it, described it as very much his planet of wood. So everything in those sets feels like very homemade, handmade wood, except for… Ruthye’s sword, which her father has made.”

“Also on that same planet is the pub where… Kara and Ruthye first meet each other. Because it’s a red sun planet, Kara’s powers aren’t at full strength so she can get drunk. So she’s celebrating her 24th birthday in this lovely pub where Ruthye comes in search of a hero in order to avenge the death of her family,” continued Scott. “Whilst we’re in that world, we also see Kara’s space RV… Neil was inspired by Riggs’s RV at the beginning of Lethal Weapon. Kara’s very free-spirited. She’s living her best young twenties life. So it’s quite messy inside that space vehicle. That’s the vehicle that Krem steals because his own vehicle’s been blown up in order to get off world. And so Kara and Ruthye are forced to ride public transport. They get tickets on the wormhole bus, which is this lovely green version of a space Greyhound. And we meet all kinds of different aliens on the wormhole bus from across the galaxy. Think of the worst possible Greyhound you’ve ever been in, but into galactic terms.”

Scott went on to describe one of the intergalactic rest stops Ruthye and Kara visit in the film. “Because Ruthye’s never done any intergalactic travel, they have to make a stop at the rest stop, which is basically a space 7-11 to pick up a spacesuit for Ruthye… it’s a beautiful, really neon technicolored 7-11 in space. From there, they buy their tickets to continue pursuing Krem, and they find him on Evely in Bilquis.”

Evely City, in the film, was described by Scott as a hideout being used by Krem and his men in a way that was described as a “viking” or “pirate” style hideout. “This planet is on its last legs. It’s a dying planet, and the people are barely surviving. And so therefore, criminals from across the galaxy have seen it as a really good place to set up and hide. And also Krem’s brigands have swooped in as the space Vikings they are, to pillage that planet and use it as a base because it’s dying. It’s a good place for criminal activity. We see lots of action. A big bulk of the movie takes place on that planet.”

When asked to go into detail about the perspective of the film, Scott stated, “This is Supergirl’s movie. [She and Ruthye] are travel buddies. It’s very much the Tom King’s comic… which was inspired by True Grit… And I think that model is very evident in our film. The two of them together is really the bulk of the film.”

When asked to describe the inspirations of the look and feel of the film’s architecture, Scott added, “If you see the artwork in [the graphic novel], you will see it evident throughout our film… Neil also picks from architecture around the world. It’s inspired by lots of different things. One of my favorite [locations] is Zor-El’s apartment. There are these wonderful big glass windows. That was actually inspired by a power station near where I grew up on the South Coast. As many production designers, [Lamont] pulls from all over the world and from the graphic novel.”

Scott was also asked to discuss the practical effects being used to bring the sets and locations to life. “The whole world of this film is very, very practical,” she stated. “We obviously have some blue screen extensions on some sets. We have to have blue screen. We’ve got lots of wires that will need to be removed by VFX [when she flies]. But all of the whole world that Craig and Neil and Lee have created is very physical, practical, filming, using the creatures, the Legacy Effects physical prosthetics and animatronic creatures. It’s very old fashioned traditional filmmaking. On one of our stages, for example, on the pub on Evely, we’ve got hand-painted scene extensions. So nowadays, often you go to a set and you see digital screens. Though you see lots of blue screens on some of these stages, we’ve gone really old school. We’ve got hand-painted backdrops.”

Scott added a bit about Lobo and his involvement in the film. “Lobo is his own man. He’s a bounty hunter and it becomes convenient to him to align with Kara. I’m not sure ‘help’ is the right word. He is pursuing a bounty who is amongst Krem’s brigands, who’s worth a lot of money to him. So in pursuit of that bounty, he, Kara, and Ruthye align in their mission. But it’s whatever works for him. I wouldn’t trust him necessarily in a fight.”

Scott went on to describe one of her favorite locations in the film, which incidentally was one of the sets we were allowed to visit; Evely City. “[Evely] takes up a whole event stage, which is a very big stage… One of the things I love about Evely, which you will see later, it’s a destroyed planet or a planet that’s dying so it’s lots of gravel. Which from a film production, just from a crew of working in dusty gravel is challenging, just as a human being. But they’ve also succeeded in creating something that looks like it could collapse at any moment, but obviously is safe for us to use. So that was challenging… Evely’s amazing. I think we all loved the pub, Clothes of Neon. And if you saw the shot of the back of Milly’s head from our start of shoot, that was in that pub. But it’s such a rich, it’s a joy to work on because the sets are all so immersive and practical.”

We were given the opportunity to explore Evely City for ourselves. It was a massive set, full of buildings that looked like they were made of crumbling stone. In the center of it was a massive tank. And we were given the opportunity to see all of the dilapidated apartments, vending machines, clotheslines, and an assortment of seedy looking shops and bars scattered around the ruins. It was incredible to just walk around the location, feeling like part of the exotic galactic location.

Not long after checking out the Evely City set, we were also given the opportunity to check out a portion of the set for Argo City. The team was in the middle of shooting a scene that appeared to be a funeral sequence. There was a quick shot of this in the trailer here. The set was monumental! And while we were watching the filming at a distance, the scale and craftsmanship that went into every wall and detail was unlike anything we’d had seen previously that day. It was truly astonishing.

Dressing for Tomorrow

Following our visits to the actual location it was time to meet with the film’s incredible costume designer, Michael Mooney. Mooney has had a long and illustrious career, absolutely being familiar with both the sci-fi and superhero genres after working on the Star Wars prequels, Aquaman, Justice League, and Spider-Man: Far From Home. Bringing his unique stamp into Supergirl came with an extensive background knowledge in DC, and the ability to blend superhero styles with intergalactic space opera designs, thanks to his experience on Revenge of the Sith, Attack of the Clones, and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

We were taken into Mooney’s workshop, which was a two-story studio. The first floor was littered with various types of fabrics and samples, alongside sewing machines, which was incredible. However, the second floor was where the action was, with full mannequins on display proudly adorned with the final hero costumes of the various characters. We saw Kara’s Supergirl uniform, as well as her casual look with the Blondie t-shirt and long brown trench coat. We saw Ruthye’s space suit, Krem’s “Mad Max”-inspired look. And of course, Lobo’s heavy costume, consisting of various chains, a black leather vest with embroidered with a skull, fire, and wings, spikes, and skulls on his gloves and claws.

Mooney shared several facts with us, including how David Corenswet’s Superman costume came first, which allowed them to build out Kara’s accordingly, only slightly tweaking it with thinner arms, a bigger S-symbol, and a different belt. The skirt was always part of the initial plans for the costume, as the team opted against the pants-look that we’ve seen in occasional iterations of the character (the latter half of the CW series for instance, or Supergirl’s look in The Flash film from 2023). It took the team three months to find the right material for Kara’s cape, but the truly challenging part of the suit were Kara’s boots. Milly would regularly have to perform stunts in them, which would wear them out and force the team to continuously repaint them.

“The Supergirl costume is probably the one that everyone’s wanting to see, and [Anna B. Sheppard] is the lead costume designer,” stated Mooney. “She really wanted to have the skirt having more movement in it. So we went very close to the comic. So it is very close to the comic version. We took some elements from the last suit and then carried that through. But then the bell and the skirt and the cloak, it’s just got so much more movement in it. So that was the whole idea was to get as much movement as possible. It just makes the fights much more dramatic… Out of all the superhero suits we’ve done, this is actually quite close to the body. There’s very little padding and it just a little bit over the shoulders…it’s a very familiar technique as you see to a lot of the superhero costumes with texture print on it. So actually it looks very simple, but it takes months to do…So we were trying to make it almost look like a leotard, but still have some texture on it, still have the armor. So it’s pretty flexible apart from the glyph, which we molded to put a little bit of shape into it… because we made the glyph a little bit bigger, it started to restrict some of the fabric the way we didn’t want it. So it’s actually shaped so that it’s complimentary. But Millie looks fantastic because she’s smaller… this was done months and months and months before we started filming… she’s obviously in training every day and she’s doing so much fighting… she looks fantastic in it, which is the most important thing. And I think out of all the superhero costumes we’ve done before, this is definitely one of my favorites.”

Mooney was asked about how Blondie became the signature shirt Kara would wear for her casual look. “Oh, we went through hundreds of different bands and then Craig settled on Blondie. Well, I think you’d
have to ask him that, but we went through every band that you could possibly think of, and they were all
a little bit alternative. So we occasionally put up some mainstream bands and he just went, ‘No, no, it’s
not that. It’s not that.’… there was lots and lots of different bands and it was starting to get quite edgy for us because she needs 30-odd T-shirts because of all the things that happen in the action and we need to print it a certain size. So we had all the T-shirts ready and then of course, depending on what was going to be the final print, you’re picking your T-shirt for that color. So you finally came on that. And then of course once we got that, it was how much pink there was because we had to tweak the original because you don’t want it jumping out too much. So there was lots of versions of that.”

Mooney showed us as well an inflatable suit that would be used for Ridley’s Ruthye character. “And then of course we had the inflatable suit, which is fantastic… that’s a real fun costume. It’s only in it for two minutes and then it ends up deflated for the rest of the scenes. But we actually made that as a functional inflatable suit,” he stated. “We tried to work out lots of different ways of making it look like an inflatable suit. And then we realized, well, you have to inflate it. So all inflates from that one system there. Let’s get two medical grade fans inside. And it’s all remote and it’s quite fantastic. It looks fantastic when it’s on film.”

He walked us over to the costumes for Krem and his gang. “And then our baddies are just behind you over here. Krem,” he began. “This is one of our favorite costumes, because there’s so much detail in it. So we kind of made it all using the traditional methods. Then we scanned it in and then changed it in 3D on the computer, printed it off, copied it again because our armorer started making the shoulders and made the original bits then. But this is quite far away from the comic.”

Moving on to Lobo’s look, Mooney shared further insights with us. “We did some concepts which were different, but very early on when we were talking and we were going through different biker costumes, we had biker costumes from everywhere,” he began. “And actually this is a dispatch rider’s coat, which is from maybe 1918. And it was a vintage one that we’d seen. So we kind of started going down that style of him having a big coat. And Anna really liked the idea of when he was coming in the bike that the coat would be flying. It’s a heavy coat and there’s a lot of leather in there. But then as we started developing it, and we had different things hanging off him. It went much closer to the comic. And then everyone was very much thinking about his muscles and the spikes. We went lower on the spikes in the shoulder because it’s difficult to shoot an actor having too many big spikes. Normally Lobo would have his fingerless gloves, but [adding claws] was Jason’s input. He, at the last minute said, ‘I think I should have claws.’… The chain was functioning that it would go out so the chain can unwrap. It’s quite a long length chain. And then also Jason said, ‘I’ve got bigger chains on my wallet.’ So we went a lot bigger with that. And then we added the grenade on it. We had a few different Lobo symbols, but then Craig said, ‘Oh yeah, let’s put the grenade on it.’ And that’s one of the grenades that you use. So it’s pretty big, but Jason can carry this off. I don’t think many actors have got the gravitas that he can carry that off easily. And then occasionally we see him without the coat on. He fights most of the time with the coat on, and then that’s his jacket underneath with the embroidered back, which we all loved. That took a lot of embroidery…the embroidery took about three weeks for each jacket because you can only get two people. It was mainly one person eventually was working on it. But the whole suit, that was probably quite a quick one and it took about three months.”

The costume department, under Mooney and Sheppard, absolutely knocked it out of the park. They took what was illustrated by Bilquis Evely in the Woman of Tomorrow graphic novel, and adapted everything that looked amazing into something tangible and real. However, they decided to take things further, both creating the DCU’s first design for Lobo from scratch, and creating a more interesting look for Krem of the Yellow Hills. That takes imagination, skill, and hundreds of materials, allowing for these experts to bring the DC Universe to life in ways we never thought possible.

Weapons, Snacks, and Alien Artifacts

Our final stop on the tour of the set of Supergirl was with the film’s props department. Our guide for this portion was Charlie Horwood, the action prop supervisor, whose credits include Ready Player One, Solo: A Star Wars Story, and the original Wonder Woman film. So much like Mooney, he has had experience with both space operas and DC superheroes.

The first portion of the props department that we were given the opportunity to check out was a very unorthodox stop: we were treated to alien snacks from across the different stops Ruthye and Kara visit on their road trip through the galaxy. Horwood and his team showcased some unorthodox alien foods, including some edible alien eyeballs (essentially cake pops with some very fancy looking fondant), and bags of spicy alien popcorn. While checking out the food, we saw the source of the alien popcorn, a small (animatronic) creature in a popcorn machine, that was producing the substance from its rectum. Yes, apparently there are planets that Supergirl and Ruthye will visit that feature alien popcorn feces. However, as your mother probably mentioned to you at one point or another, it’s always important to try new things, and don’t knock it until you’ve tried it! We met the puppeteer behind the popcorn alien, who was controlling the creature via a remote control. The creature had incredible detail and rubber skin, which made it look so lifelike. It really was a testament to how committed Gillespie and his crew were to utilizing practical effects on this production.

We then went up to the second floor of the props department, where we saw before us several long tables stocked end to end with all sorts of weaponry and props that were used throughout the film. There was a table dedicated exclusively to guns, chains, hooks, and grenades from Lobo’s arsenal. There were several Kryptonian devices from Argo City. And of course, the iconic sword of Ruthye’s father, which plays a large role in the story. Horwood and the team even let us pick up some of the weapons and hold them in our hands to feel the weight and notice the fine details of the craftsmanship his team put into each item.

When asked about the inspiration he had for the weapons he created for the film, Horwood stated, “You’ve got a lot of Star Wars, a lot of old DC films that you can look back on, but then put your own little twist on it, but keep it to what it is. Like the Tommy gun, you wanted to still make it look and feel like a Tommy gun, but space-ify it a little bit… we worked to the costume and the look of the alien itself, where we didn’t really want to tie anyone into an identity. But for example, with Ruthye’s sword, we took inspiration from the Afghan way of making weapons with the golden filigree. And then with the Brigand weapons, it was very influenced by Viking and leather.”

Horwood spoke a bit about what it was like working with Gillespie. “Craig was very, very hands-on early in the film. He was very helpful,” he stated. “He was actually one of the most involved directors that we’ve worked with in a long time, but he very much had a clear understanding of what he wanted because we had a lot of the reference from the comic books. It was paying homage to that, but also [we had] free reign to express ourselves a bit creatively. Like with Krem’s weapons, because it was very different to the comic books. We could start from fresh with that and concepts. So yeah, it was good… All of the main hero character stuff will go through Craig. Then… we’d probably send him the concepts and not really show him a physical. But yeah, 99% of it would go through Craig… instead of wasting time and money making something that’s wrong, we’d rather make sure we get it right because then it’ll keep costs down, and, for this film, we didn’t have much time to rectify it if he didn’t like it. So we wanted to make sure we were getting the correct answer first.”

Horwood was asked to go into details about how long it would take to create a weapon. “So with modern technology, it’s a lot quicker because you can basically 3D print the parts and put them all together, but it’s paintwork that takes the longest. For example, the gold, the chroming of that takes 24 hours to cure. Then doing barrel burn takes ages, but it’s mainly paintwork… when it comes to weapons, we make generally a few stages of it. So we’d have what we call a hero one, what would be metal, or a really hard rubber. But we’ll give that the best paint finish. That’d be for the close-ups… for example, Ruthye, [as a] young girl, we don’t want her carrying the heavy hero sword all the time. So we’ll make a version where it’s lightweight so it’s just easier for her to carry for 10 hours a day.”

One of the major challenges he had in terms of the props he had to fabricate was Kara’s space iPod. “I think the trickiest one was probably Kara’s Space iPod. Because what is a space iPod supposed to look like? And she has an original iPod as well. So do we keep it similar to that? That was probably the trickiest one because you don’t really have anywhere to start. Whereas a sword’s a sword, a dog’s a dog, but what’s the space iPod? Who knows?… The original iPod does work. Unfortunately they didn’t want us to use it because visual effects wanted to do the screens. So yeah, it was quite hard work finding original working iPods. Then the space one doesn’t work, but there’s just going to be a full visual effects takeover.”

He continued on about the challenges of creating props for the films in general. “We’re very sci-fi. We can’t just go to the shop, buy it on a shelf and use it. So it’s all got to be tampered with. You can’t just buy a space gun. So you buy something that [has] the original look and silhouette of [the intended weapon], then they will build upon that. But a lot of it’s just down to the creative minds of our prop makers, as well. Because Craig doesn’t have time to concept every gun. He would then let us have fun with it and what we think what we can make then. So we get a lot of freedom with certain things, but a lot of these weapons were just from the minds of our prop makers, really.”

The props for Lobo were some of the coolest weapons and pieces Horwood and his team constructed. When asked about Lobo, he stated, “His character was quite straightforward because a lot of it is [in the comic book] and we wanted to stick to that. The lighter that he uses is quite unique. It’s just a brass punch lighter, but it’s quite aggressive so he slams it on the table to light it and that was an interesting one… Jason’s already asked [to keep] stuff.” He was asked about how Momoa was able to keep the props. “He’s already got it. But yeah, because everyone just thinks that they’re ours but they’re not. They belong to Warners, so it has to go through higher approval.”

Let’s be honest, no one could ever blame Momoa for wanting to take home some sweet Lobo hooks! And frankly, who’s going to tell him no, right?

As the day wrapped up, we looked back at everything we learned and saw, and summarized the experience in a single word: grateful. We were grateful to Warner Bros. for giving us the opportunity to visit the worlds many could only dream of setting foot in. We were grateful to the remarkable crew members for taking the time to allow us to see the incredible works they put together, and allowing us to learn about their amazing processes in handcrafting every inch of Argo City, Evely City, and all the props and costumes immortalized in Supergirl’s journeys. And finally, grateful to the filmmakers and, again, their hard working crews for spending years bringing Supergirl back to the big screen.

With Kara now making her epic journey to cinemas, more than a year later, the set visit we took last April serves as a reminder of something truly incredible. It is a reminder that the craftsmanship and artistry of these hard working individuals remains unparalleled. And as we see the future of this incredible universe expand and evolve before our eyes, we, much as the symbol on her costume signifies, can only continue to hope that passion and commitment to fine storytelling and human ingenuity will remain evergreen at DC Studios and Warner Bros. If what we saw for Supergirl is any indication, I believe that future couldn’t be brighter.

Supergirl flies into theaters June 26!