Luke Wilson And Brec Bassinger On 'DC's Stargirl': 'If It Can Make One Person Smile That's Going Through A Hard Time, That's Good Enough For Me'

DC's Stargirl is coming to a TV near you when The CW's latest superhero show makes its series debut Tuesday, May 19th at 8/7c. Brec Bassinger plays Courtney Whitmore aka Stargirl, a 16-year-old girl who brings together an unlikely group of young heroes known as The Justice Society Of America. Luke Wilson also stars at Pat Dugan, Stargirl's right-hand man and operator of S.T.R.I.P.E. (Special Tactics Robotic Integrated Power Enhancer) .

CBS Local's Matt Weiss spoke with Bassinger and Wilson about DC Stargirl's upcoming debut on The CW.

MW: Luke, Brec, good morning!

BB: Good morning Matt!

LW: Morning, how are you doing? 

MW: Doing well. Happy to talk to you both about DC's Stargirl but before we get into that; Brec, we'll start with you, where are you riding everything out with quarantine and how have you been doing?

BB: I'm here in Sherman Oaks, California and I've been good. I feel like with this whole experience there's really good days where I'd be super motivated and then there's the days, I can let myself feel down, but I I've been trying to keep myself busy. I didn't imagine Stargirl premiering in this type of atmosphere; I did not picture that in a million years. 

I have been doing a lot of different press interviews and besides that my mom just came in town I hadn't seen her in over four months. She was in Texas and I was here so it's the first time I've seen her in so long. 

LW: And Brec turns 21 this week. 

BB: Oh yes! Stargirl premieres and then a week from today I turned 21. 

MW: Big week, goodness. 

BB: Yes! 

LW: Big week. 

MW: Luke What about you? Where are you riding everything out? 

LW: I've just been here in Santa Monica the whole time. Just been trying to follow the guidelines that the governor sets. Staying at home and doing what everyone else is doing. Trying to get things kind of neatened up and get some stuff organized that I needed to. Just keeping in touch with my family and my friends.

They kind of loosened some restrictions so you can go to the beach now, the parks are open. Just trying to ride it out like everybody else. Just hope that the people out on the front lines are staying safe. But yes, certainly some uncertain times. 

MW: Absolutely, but we have Stargirl coming up to help everybody get some entertainment coming their way. Luke, we'll start with you this time, what are you most excited about for people to see with this show?

LW: To me one of the most exciting things about the show is how it moves in and out of different genres. It goes from this superhero action packed show, with all these great effects and stunts but then it'll have some humorous high school stuff with Brec's character at school. Then it'll go to stuff back at home with myself and Amy Smart who plays my wife and we have a son named Mike and a dog living in Nebraska.

The show never really stops and it has this movie-like Spielberg type feel. I'm just excited for people to get to see something that has a really good feeling but also just in terms of action intention it really just ratchets up with each episode and almost every scene. 

MW: Brec, you're one of the few people on earth who I can ask this to, what's it feel like to be a superhero? 

BB: Oh my gosh. I was just saying that I feel like being a superhero is so special because comic books have been around for so long. S.T.R.I.P.E. and Pat Dugan, Luke's  character, has literally been around since the 1940s. Its historic and so to be a part of such a big universe that's been around for so long it's an honor and not only that there's only so many superhero shows and superhero movies. I feel like the chances of getting on one are so slim. Not to mention one that fits your breakdown; a 16-year-old blonde girl. It's so slim to none, it blows my mind I'm getting to do this. 

MW: Were you a fan of superheros growing up? 

BB: I always watch the different movies. I dabbled in some of the Arrowverse shows here and there. I hadn't read a comic book until booking Stargirl and now I've officially read some comic books. They're cool. I had to get used to them. They're different than reading regular books.  

LW: It's funny when you ask back about being a superhero. I had this funny conversation with Geoff Johns, the creator of the show. He was so patient with me, where I was saying, 'so am I a superhero?' He was like, 'well you operate the robot.' Then I would say, 'Yeah, but am I a superhero? And he's like, 'well you've got this robot…' Trying to tell me that no my character was not actually a superhero. 

BB: You're a sidekick! 

LW: I'm a sidekick who works as a mechanic. He tried to be gentle about it. 

BB: Why is this the most Pat Dugan conversation like, 'but am I superhero.' 'No, not you.' 

LW: Yeah, yeah. [laughs]

BB: Definitely not you. 

LW: Geoff was kind of like, you're a father, a professor and you operate a robot. A seventeen foot tall robot that no one but Pat could build. 

MW: There you go! 

BB: I never knew this. This is funny. I'm loving this conversation. 

MW: [Laughs] Now being that this is all part of the DC universe, are we going to see a lot of crossover with other superheroes, other villains potentially? 

LW: I think that's probably the plan. There so many characters in this DC universe from the past. Like we were saying earlier, Pat Dugan's character actually first appeared in the 1940s in the comic books. I think they're definitely going to introduce some others because there all these characters from the Justice Society and the Injustice Society. Then there was this thing called Seven Soldiers with Victory initially. That to me is one of the fun things. 

I never knew that until we were doing the show that they could take these different characters and move them around like chess pieces. They're all kind of interconnected in they've all have cross paths in one way or another. It'll be fun to see how they do that. We don't, Brec and I, don't know specifically what their plan is. I think they'll definitely be introducing some more characters though. 

MW: That's one of the cool parts about superhero universes, to me, is when they have all the different crossovers.

LW: Yeah and some villains used to be good and stuff like that. Geoff Johns, the creator of our show is just an expert in it. You can ask him about anybody, 'OK how did Dragon King do this and then what happened to him, and Dr. Fate, and Gambler, Hourman...'  

BB: He's a walking DC Comics encyclopedia. 

MW: Sounds like a great resource for you all to have. Now Brec, in this first episode, what can we expect? What are we actually going to be seeing in your setup? 

BB: You're seeing the beginnings of Stargirl. She finds out about her stepfather's history with the JSA. She stumbled upon this cosmic staff that hasn't worked for anyone since the superhero Starman, but it works for her. She decides it's her responsibility to continue his legacy. 

The staff works for her and she also decides it's her responsibility to create a new superhero team to continue the JSA. She also decides that with his 17-foot robot it makes sense that they would work together too. 

MW: Looking forward to how it all plays out for sure. Now last question before I let you both go and  Luke, we'll start with you. We touched on a little bit earlier, there's a lot going on in the world right now and Stargirl will hopefully give audiences a chance to put everything else aside for a little bit, tune out and just be entertained. What does the ability to be on this show and help people in that way mean to you?

LW: That means a lot to me because I know just like the talk shows came back, even though the hosts were at home it is just nice to have a little sense of normalcy. It's the same thing when I'm just seeing people in the neighborhood. It's just nice to see people and know that things are different, but that people are OK. When the pandemic started, I thought gosh it's too bad the show's not on with people stuck at home. It seems like a lot of people were very restless and you have people literally on the front lines. 

I'm glad that the show is on now. I think it will be a nice respite from all the things that are out of our control that are occurring right now. It is truly something that the whole family can watch. I've got an eight and a nine-year-old nephew and a 10-year-old niece and they just love the first two episodes. I've shown it to a couple of friends of mine who are in the DC universe and those guys loved it too. That was one of the original ideas that show, to make a show that had a good feeling as well as great action. 

I think, I hope that it can be something where people can sit down and relax at the end of the day and watch something that, like you were saying, that takes their mind off it. It's hard to do these days when you're inundated with news, most of it not very good and some of it very tragic. 

MW: And Brec what about you what can you say about being able to provide people some entertainment right now? 

BB: This is such a tragic time and for me personally just even scrolling through Twitter it's very negative. I turned on a show one day and I had to turn it off because it was too dark. I have too much negativity around me. I really can't take anymore. 

I feel like Stargirl can be that positive distraction, if I may, for some people. I hope it can be. If it can make one person smile that's going through a hard time, that's good enough for me, for sure. 

MW: Great stuff. Thank you both so much it's been a pleasure sitting down with you both. All the best with the show and happy early birthday to you Brec!

BB: Thank you! 

LW: Thank you for taking the time, take care.

Tune in Tuesday, May 19th at 8/7c for the series premiere of DC's Stargirl on The CW. Check your local listings for more information.