‘Stargirl’ Casts Brec Bassinger as Its Lead

Brec Bassinger, best known for her roles in All Night and School of Rock, will play the role of Courtney Whitmore/Stargirl in the upcoming Stargirl series on the DC Universe streaming app.

Created by Geoff Johns and Lee Moder and inspired by Johns’s late sister, Courtney Whitmore is a superheroine who found her way into one of the DC Universe’s most storied legacies.

“There is no other character in comic books more special to me than Stargirl, and after searching far and wide I can say there is no other actor on the planet that embodies her more than Brec Bassinger,” said executive producer/writer Geoff Johns. “Brec’s warmth, strength, humor and positive energy are core to who Courtney Whitmore is. I’m so grateful she’s signed on for the role.”

Her stepfather, Pat Dugan, was the original Stripesy, the partner to a superhero in the ’40s known as the Star-Spangled Kid. When Courtney first took on the role of Star-Spangled Kid, he got into a giant suit of armor and designated himself S.T.R.I.P.E. to keep her safe on missions.

Later, after inheriting the cosmic staff of Starman Jack Knight, she started calling herself Stargirl and worked primarily with the Justice Society. She’s also worked with the Justice League, the Suicide Squad, and Young Justice.

Courtney has made two previous live-action appearances: she was played by Britt Irvin on Smallville and Power Rangers veteran Sarah Grey on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Neither of those shows is in continuity with the forthcoming Stargirl series.

According to her official character bio, Courtney Whitmore (aka Stargirl) is smart, athletic and above all else kind. This high school teenager’s seemingly perfect life hits a major speedbump when her mother gets married and her new family moves from Los Angeles, California to Blue Valley, Nebraska. Struggling to adapt to a new school, make new friends and deal with a new step-family, Courtney discovers her step-father has a secret; he used to be the sidekick to a superhero. “Borrowing” the long-lost hero’s cosmic staff, Courtney becomes the unlikely inspiration for an entirely new generation of superheroes.

Besides All Night and School of Rock, Bassinger has played roles on The Goldbergs, The Haunted Hathaways, and Code Black as well as the feature film Liar Liar Vampire. Early in her career, she played the role of Bella on Bella & the Bulldogs for Nickelodeon. Upcoming projects include Status Update with Ross Lynch (The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) and Olivia Holt (Cloak & Dagger), and Saturday Night at the Starlight with Abigail Breslin (Zombieland) and Michael Madsen (Sin City).

Greg Berlanti, Geoff Johns and Sarah Schechter are executive producers of Stargirl, which is based on characters from DC which were created by Geoff Johns. The series is produced by Berlanti Productions and Mad Ghost Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. Johns is writing the first episode.

Stargirl follows high school sophomore Courtney Whitmore as she inspires an unlikely group of young heroes to stop the villains of the past. This new drama reimagines Stargirl and the very first superhero team, the Justice Society of America, in an unpredictable series. The project focuses on the character that started executive producer Geoff Johns’ career as a comic book writer when he created her in 1999, lovingly inspired by his late sister, who was killed in a 1996 plane explosion.