Dreamer Actress Nicole Maines Reveals Her Biggest Regret On Supergirl - Exclusive

For her "Supergirl" character, Dreamer, Nicole Maines worked with writers to tell her own story while portraying the first trans superhero on TV. As someone who's broken barriers in real life and on-screen, Maines made it her mission to spread awareness about things like violence against the trans community and the harmful anti-trans legislation getting pushed through in many states. 

Besides providing some much-needed representation in the world of live-action comic book TV, both Maines and Dreamer herself have inspired people of all ages to love and accept themselves for exactly who they are. We don't often give enough credit to TV and films for shaping our world views and allowing us to see ourselves in fictional characters and Maines has done just that for viewers all over the world. But just like anyone, if she had the option to do it all over again, she would make a few changes. 

Looper spoke to Maines for an exclusive interview and she revealed her biggest regret regarding the groundbreaking "Supergirl" episode, "Reality Bytes." 

The Dreamer-centric episode, "Reality Bytes," centers around hate crimes against the trans community — primarily trans women of color — and Nia Nal (aka Dreamer) has to help her roommate through a targeted hate crime via a dating app called Upswipz. Maines said she was happy with how it came out, overall. "I think if I could go back and change anything, I would have Yvette involved a little bit more," she said. "I know it was about Dreamer and about Supergirl, but I think we could have done more to not showcase [Yvette] as just a victim."

"I think we did that a little bit in that final scene, and that's, I think, a little bit of a failure on my part to kind of recognize more that Yvette is more than just a victim," Maines added. What could it have looked like instead? "... I think I would have liked to have Yvette just do a little bit more, and just kind of show her as less of an... 'I got attacked, so I'm going to delete my social media account, and then Nia is going to talk me out of it.' Maybe Yvette and Dreamer team up, or something, or Dreamer comes to you, and she's kind of like, 'Who is this guy? Give me the details?'"

"I think that [it] would have been really nice to kind of have Yvette see Dreamer coming to her rescue and knowing that she's not alone. Even helping track this guy down, I would've liked," Nicole Maines added. "But I think overall, I'm really happy with how that episode came out, and I'm really, really happy with the beats." 

Maines is still debating the idea: "... At the same time, with someone like that, what do you do? With someone who has made it a point to hurt people because of who they are, do we give them a second chance? I think we ended on a really good note, at least for Dreamer, where she's kind of like, 'If I see you again, it's on-sight.'" Maines noted that she'd love to have Yvette head back to National City to close off the storyline, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it doesn't look like it will happen.

Fans can tune into the final season of "Supergirl" on Tuesday nights on the CW and keep an eye out for a comic Maines penned herself in the "DC Pride" Anthology hitting shelves June 8 .