Geoff Johns teases Stargirl season 2 will be much darker and scarier than the first. The superhero series is set in the DC Universe and follows high-schooler Courtney Whitmore (Brec Bassinger), who inspires a new generation of superheroes a decade after the Justice Society of America was killed in battle. The story chronicles the battle between the new Justice Society of America and the Injustice Society of DC supervillains. The fearful season 2 was hinted at in the Stargirl season 1 finale, with the search for a particular antagonist.
Stargirl season 1 ended with Cindy Burman (Meg Delacy) on the hunt for one of DC's most dangerous supervillains, Eclipso. That lingering story thread raised anticipation for future episodes, and Stargirl season 2 is set to premiere in August. To rev up excitement, the CW has put together an extensive marketing campaign, frequently utilizing Eclipso to remind viewers of the main threat. With Eclipso positioned as the villain, Johns knew he wanted to amplify the tone of the next season.
During a DC press event that ComicBook.com attended, creator Geoff Johns premiered the opening scene of the second season of Stargirl. Though participants were screened before the reveal, Johns allegedly was giving no hints as to the content, style, and tone of the material they were about to react to. However, the scene spoke for itself, making it clear that the producers of the television series were adamant on going down a darker route for, at least, the second season.
“The first scene was purposely at the top and mysterious and both specific and vague at the same time because I wanted everyone to know there’s a tonal shift this season. And so right away you get that tonal shift and it is scary and it is dark, but it was important to have that upfront and then right away we go to like, summertime blues and the kids patrolling at night and there’s nothing going on. And they’re all arguing about whether they should keep doing it. And there’s a lot of humor and fun afterward. But it was important, I thought, just to set the tone of the season right away, let you know that we’re going to get scary this season.”
Not wanting to mislead his supportive audience, Johns ensured the season established its tone straight away, with the first scene depicting this dark and scary atmosphere so viewers knew what they were signing up for from the beginning. His awareness of how important it was to set the tone, despite flashing straight to a different scene, shows his attentiveness as a director and creator, and indicates that he’s dedicated to controlling the arc of Stargirl’s storyline so it flows and is coherent for the people watching. Skipping from the tonal shift to a ‘summertime blues’ scene with children patrolling, with bouts of humor and fun, ensures the audience aren’t dragged straight into the darkness of the season, and are instead led gradually down into this new shift. It shows a great command over the story arc.
Johns clearly cares about how the audience relate to and engage with the source material. He continued to tease that viewers would see Eclipso in this season, immediately enhancing the darker ambience, with Nick Tarabay in full makeup. In discussing the manifestation of this supervillain character, he added that he hoped it would feel deserved and scary when he eventually showed up in Blue Valley. To further enhance how dark Johns was going, star Joy Osmanski, who portrays Paula Brooks/Tigress, said that her own children will not be allowed to watch the show due to how scary the content was becoming. DC has gone dark many times before, so Stargirl will be joining a huge portfolio for enthusiastic fans to binge.
Source: ComicBook.com