Dreamer deserves to be an Arrowverse mainstay after Supergirl’s finale

Supergirl’s Dreamer deserves to be a central part of the Arrowverse beyond the Supergirl series finale. 

With Supergirl season six coming to a close with a two-part finale event in November, it’s hard to imagine the Arrowverse continuing on without the Girl of Steel. Though, just as we had to say goodbye to both Green Arrow and Black Lightning, we’ll have to do the same for Supergirl whether we like it or not.

Despite how sad I am to say goodbye to Kara Zor-El, there are a few other characters on Supergirl that I can’t imagine giving up just yet. The one that I am least prepared to lose is none other than National City’s resident trans icon: Dreamer.

Introduced in the fourth season of the show, Dreamer, or Nia Nal, made history as television’s first trans superhero, played by trans actress and activist Nicole Maines. She is half-Naltorian, with her mother hailing from the planet Naltor, and her species is known for a dream power that is passed down from mother to daughter.

In a storyline that will most likely be remembered as one of the most well-done origin stories for a trans character on TV, Nia inherits the dream powers from her mother. In doing so, the powers skip over Nia’s older sister, Maeve, who is a biological woman, establishing that trans women are women effortlessly. The success of this storyline is due in no small part to Nicole Maines, who had a huge hand in crafting Nia’s storylines throughout the series. 

Ever since her introduction, she’s become an integral part of the show, becoming a mentee of Kara’s in both her career as a reporter and in her newly found superhero identity. More recently, Nia has spent the majority of season 6 trying to fully master her powers, especially in the series’ two-part Midvale flashback episodes. During the most recent episode, season 6 episode 10, Nia was finally able to speak to her mother and get the instruction she needs to fully master and understand her abundant power.

The slow burn of Dreamer’s rise as a hero and continuous quest to unlock her powers throughout the series makes the remaining time we have with her on Supergirl feel bittersweet. On one hand, Nia’s journey has been a pleasure to watch, and I’m beyond excited to see where that journey ends in the series finale. On the other hand, it feels like we’re only just getting started with Dreamer.

As the series comes to a close with Nia only just realizing the true extent of her powers, it feels wasteful to never utilize her again, especially with what seems like her whole superhero-ing career ahead of her.

In what ways could we see Dreamer again?

The answer to that question that I’d be most happy with would be a full fledged Dreamer spin-off series, and even then, there’s many directions to take that idea.

One could be a series that follows Dreamer as the lead character still fighting crime with the Superfriends in National City. Though the fate of the Superfriends is still unknown ahead of their series finale, it would be absurd if all of them stopped being heroes, and this show could continue their exploits.

This would also allow for other fan favorites to remain on our screens longer as well, such as Kelly Olsen’s Guardian, Brainiac-5, and even Alex Danvers’ Sentinel. Characters like Guardian, who fans will only see suited up for the final eight episodes of the series, and Brainy are other characters I’m not ready to let go of, and I believe have much more story left to tell.

In addition, Chyler Leigh is already confirmed to be suiting up again as Sentinel for The Flash’s season 8 crossover event, which premieres just one week after the Supergirl two-part finale. Leigh jumping right back into Alex’s shoes leaves the door open for more opportunities to see her character in the future, and implies a willingness to continue to play Alex that shouldn’t be wasted.

The other option, if actors like Leigh or Azie Tesfai, who plays Guardian, don’t want to reprise their roles, is to move Nia to a new city to fight crime as Dreamer. This option would open the door for many new heroes to be introduced on the show, including characters we’ve never seen in the Arrowverse before.

The Justice League Queer, or JLQ, feels like a great team to build around Nia within the Arrowverse. The team consists of familiar characters like The Ray, who has already been a part of the Crisis on Earth-X crossover, and new characters like Natasha Irons’ Steel and Kaldur’ahm’s Aqualad. Batwoman is also a part of the JLQ in the comics, which would allow for a cool crossover team-up between a potential Dreamer spin-off and Batwoman.

Additionally, in my mind, you can’t truly make a Dreamer show without Jesse Rath’s Brainiac-5. Their relationship on Supergirl is a true highlight, and it would feel wrong to move Nia out of National City if Brainy didn’t come with her.

Though those two options sound amazing, The CW has been less than generous as of late in handing out spin-off series to Arrowverse shows. With the passing of series pick-ups for both Green Arrow and the Canaries and Painkiller, a Dreamer spin-off might be outside of the realm of possibility.

If it truly is off the table, I think the best place we could see Nia again is on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, joining the Waverider crew. Nia acts as a bit of comic relief in a lot of her scenes on Supergirl, which would allow her to fit right in with the more comedic tone of the series. The Waverider is also constantly changing passengers, which would allow for Nia to come aboard without much question, allowing for a smooth transition from National City heroine to Legend.

Aside from Nia being able to blend right into the sillier nature of Legends, she would also add to just how incredibly queer the show is. Legends already features four main queer characters, and adding Nia would create a space for trans representation on the Waverider that has never been there before, and would only improve upon the wonderful representation it already provides across the LGBTQ community.

No matter how we see her again, all I know is that we need to.

Over these three short years, Nia has snuck her way into the hearts of many Supergirl fans, and it’s clear to see why. She’s brilliant, funny, and fiercely loyal, and her dream powers offer an interesting change of pace from the usual Speedsters and Kryptonians the Arrowverse has in spades.

Though, Dreamer is not only a wonderful character with so much more to offer the DC universe, she also provides incredible representation for the trans community. Trans characters are becoming more and more common on TV, but trans superheroes are still pretty sparse.

Nia’s success on both Supergirl and within comic format prove that trans superheroes work, and she might be the push other superhero media needs to add their own trans superheroes (I’m looking at you, Marvel Cinematic Universe).

The representation Nia provides is something that is not worth losing over one series coming to a close. The original foundations of the Arrowverse are crumbling, and Dreamer can bridge the gap between old and new DCTV fans. This will help push them into their new phase of superhero content.