DC's Stargirl: Brec Bassinger Talks Courtney's Relationship with Starman
The third season of The CW's DC's Stargirl debuted on Wednesday night and brought with it a huge change in status quo for Courtney Whitmore/Stargirl. Sylvester Pemberton/Starman (Joel McHale) is back, having returned at the end of Season 2, and now he's staying in Blue Valley, seemingly long term. Given that Courtney picked up the staff in Starman's absence, the return of the hero presents both challenges and opportunities and now, series star Brec Bassinger is breaking down Courtney's relationship with the original JSA hero and what it means for her going forward.
Warning! Spoilers for the Season 3 premiere of DC's Stargirl, "Frenemies – Chapter 1: The Murder", beyond this point.
In the episode, it's revealed that Sylvester did, indeed, track down Pat (Luke Wilson) with the intent to take back the staff. However, Sylvester has a change of heart when he sees Courtney in action as Stargirl and despite it being clear that he not only misses his life as a superhero but doesn't quite know how to move forward, he accepts that she is the future — even if he does take the staff out for a bit of a joy ride. Courtney, however, comes up with a novel approach, suggesting that they share the staff and the heroic responsibility, something that Bassinger says just makes sense for Courtney
"She looks up to Starman and technically it was his first so who is she to completely take it away from him and her just being the light that she is, she really does feel like that's best for him," Bassinger told ComicBook.com. "So, of course she's going to turn it into a way that works for her, too, because she puts people before herself. That's just who she is. And so, from her perspective, it keeps people safer because when she's at school, he can still patrol and keep Blue Valley safe. And then also it gives her the ability to balance the work life a little bit better, which she's always pushing people to do."
Of course, two heroes sharing the staff could result in some clashes, particularly when it comes to differences between Stargirl and Starman. The season premiere already suggested at some differences between who the two heroes view their former foes and Bassinger says that she thinks there will be some backlash for Starman.
"I think people are going to give Starman some backlash because they're like, you're not forgiving. You're holding grudges. Not very heroic of you. But technically speaking, the last time he was on the Earth, these people, Sportsmaster and Tigress killed all of his best friends, his team, put him in the ground, they killed him. So, I think it feels… there is so much there, so much history. You can't really blame him for feeling the way he's feeling."
DC's Stargirl airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.