Milly Alcock Admits She Was Scared to Audition for ‘Supergirl’ Due to Intense Pressure

Milly Alcock said she was scared before auditioning for Supergirl. She explained that the role came with a lot of pressure even before she stepped into the room. The character was part of a new DC Studios direction, and she knew many other actors were also being considered. That made the situation feel intense for her.

She described flying a long way from Sydney to Atlanta for the audition at Trilith Studios in January 2024. She had just come off other work and was already dealing with travel fatigue and nerves. The production had not even started filming yet, and the full scale of the project was still forming, which made things feel uncertain.

Alcock says it was not the audition itself that frightened her in a technical way. It was the weight of what it could mean. She puts it simply in the interview, saying, “It’s the stakes, you know?” She knew this was a major franchise role, and she understood how visible it would become if she got it.

At the audition, she met DC Studios co-chairs James Gunn and Peter Safran, along with writer Ana Nogueira and other executives. She was told this version of Supergirl would be very different from earlier versions. The character was rougher, more damaged, and shaped by trauma rather than optimism. That made the role exciting, but also intimidating.

She also had to deal with a strange setup. There was no full costume ready yet, so she wore a simple blue top and red skirt to give a sense of the character. That made her feel even more exposed. She recalls thinking, “What am I doing?” during the process.

Even though she was nervous, the room’s reaction was strong. According to producer Peter Safran, people in the audition were emotional. He said, “Everybody had tears in their eyes.” He felt she captured the emotional core of the character right away. Writer Ana Nogueira also said she knew immediately that Alcock was the right choice.

Still, Alcock did not feel confident leaving the audition. She went back to Australia and waited. Around ten days later, she got the confirmation from James Gunn that she had been cast. She was alone when she saw the news, and the reality of the role started to sink in.

She says that even after getting the part, she felt overwhelmed by the responsibility. The character appears in nearly every scene of the film, and she had never carried a project on that scale before. That made her nervous again, but also motivated her to commit fully.

Looking back, she connects her fear to the meaning of the role. Supergirl, in this version, is not a simple hero. She is a character dealing with pain and identity struggles. Alcock says that feeling of fear actually helped her understand the character better, because it mirrored the emotional pressure Kara Zor-El carries in the story.

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