Sasha Calle's Scrapped SUPERGIRL Movie Was "Completely Different" From Milly Alcock's DCU Film

Before Milly Alcockstepped into the role of Kara Zor-El, DC had an entirely different plan for Supergirl. Long before James Gunn and Peter Safran rebooted the franchise with the new DC Universe, a solo movie was being developed for Sasha Calle after her debut in The Flash.

That movie never happened, and according to screenwriter Ana Nogueira, it shared almost nothing with the version fans are about to see.

Now that Supergirl has been released in theaters, Nogueira has opened up about just how dramatically the project changed after the studio shifted creative direction.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Nogueira revealed that the original screenplay she wrote for Calle's Supergirl was an entirely different story.

“It was completely different. I don’t think I can even say what it was about, but it could not have been more different.”

It wasn't just a matter of polishing an existing script or making a few adjustments. Once Gunn and Safran took over DC Studios, the project was rebuilt from the ground up.

“Everything. Nothing transferred over from one to the other, which is crazy,” the screenwriter added.

That means the original film's premise, character motivations, tone, and even the mythology surrounding Kara were all scrapped in favor of a fresh direction that fits the new DC Universe.

Rather than revisiting the earlier concept, Gunn and Safran asked Nogueira to start over by adapting Tom King's acclaimed comic series Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.

The story follows Kara as she travels across planets orbiting red suns, where her Kryptonian abilities are greatly diminished.

Her journey changes when a young alien girl named Ruthye Marye Knoll asks for help tracking down the man who murdered her family.

Kara initially turns her away, but everything changes after Krypto is poisoned. Suddenly, she's racing against a three-day deadline to save the last living connection she has to Krypton while hunting down Ruthye's target.

Even though her original screenplay was shelved, Nogueira said the experience wasn't wasted. It gave her a much stronger understanding of Supergirl's abilities, which proved valuable when writing the new film.

“There is a real thing when you’re doing this; you have to really onboard yourself on things like power set,” Nogueira explained.

Getting a firm grasp on the limits of Kara's strength and how she fights helped shape the new screenplay, even if every other aspect of the story changed.

As for Calle, she seems to have made peace with the fact that her version of Supergirl won't continue into the new DCU. In an interview earlier this year, she reflected fondly on the opportunity that The Flash gave her.

“I’m so, so, so utterly grateful that it’s brought me into this world where I can make art,” she said. “I loved it.”

Although her time as Kara was brief, it helped open new doors, including a role in the upcoming Netflix thriller The Rip.

It's interesting to hear just how different DC's original plans were. Fans often assume that projects survive reboots with a few rewrites, but this sounds like a complete reset. With Alcock now leading a story inspired by one of Supergirl's most celebrated modern comic runs, Gunn's DCU is clearly charting its own course.