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EXCLUSIVE: Barely a month after stepping down as DC Chief Creative Officer, Geoff Johns already has the inaugural TV project for his new first look producing deal with Warner Bros ready to go – and it is one close to the Doomsday Clock author’s heart.

Teaming up again with Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter, Johns will pen and executive produce a Stargirl series for the OTT DC Universe service.

Announced at a Comic-Con Spotlight panel on Johns just now, Stargirl is the sixth series overall for the digital subscription service and its fourth live action offering. The 2019 premiering 13-episode reimaging of the teen Courtney Whitmore superhero will be produced by WBTV, Johns’ Mad Ghost Productions and Berlanti Productions.

“Obviously, Stargirl was first character I created for DC,” Johns told me Thursday of the 1999 debuting stepdaughter of the Star-Spangled Kid. “Most important, Courtney Whitmore was inspired by my sister who passed away,” he added. “To have an opportunity to tell a story celebrating this superhero was literally the first thing I wanted to do because it is so personal to me. Also, a character that speaks to being young, to a legacy and to pushing forward seems so important to me nowadays.”

In the new series, the plan is high school student Whitmore bands together with the Justice Society of America to fight villains, past and present. Stargirl joins Titans and Doom Patrol as live action projects Johns is EPing with Greg Berlant and Sarah Schechter for the DC Universe service.The pickup of Stargirl brings Berlanti Productions’ record-breaking portfolio to 15 live-action series

The Stargirl news was made public in a SDCC spotlight panel where Johns also announced a new Shazam! comic series he will write and a first look at the Batman: Three Joker series that the DC Black Label imprint will be publishing. As well as playing the Titians trailer that was unveiled earlier today, Johns also dropped some new art from The Watchmen meets Batman and Superman and more Doomsday Clock #6, which is out next week, and artist Gary Franks.

Striking a big presence here at SDCC, the DC Universe service is targeting a fall launch with pre-orders for one year starting at $74.99 – with an extra three months awarded for early sign-ups. Monthly memberships will be available at launch for $7.99 a month. The service is compatible with Apple and Android devices, Roku, and Amazon Fire, and slots in alongside Netflix, Hulu, or any other digital steaming app.

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The DC Universe just brightened — Brec Bassinger of Nickelodeon’s Bella & the Bulldogs will play the cosmic title character on Stargirl, one of the new TV series that Warner Bros.Digital Networks and DC Entertainment are banking on as they launch an ambitious streaming site aimed at superhero fans.

The streaming site — called DC Universe — launched Saturday and hopes to entice fans to pay $7.99 a month for access to comics, films and TV shows. Stargirl is expected to be among the high-profile offerings needed to propel the digital subscription model toward its heroic potential.

The show and the character are special to Geoff Johns, the show’s writer and executive producer, who until recently was chief creative officer at DC Entertainment. Johns rose through the ranks of DC Comics writers and Stargirl (aka Courtney Whitmore) was among the characters most closely associated with his ascent to fan-favorite status in publishing.

“There is no other character in comic books more special to me than Stargirl, and after searching far and wide I can say there is no other actor on the planet that embodies her more than Brec Bassinger,” Johns said. “Brec’s warmth, strength, humor and positive energy are core to who Courtney Whitmore is. I’m so grateful she’s signed on for the role.”

As heroes go, Stargirl is intelligent, athletic and, above all, kind. That may sound odd in this superhero era of haunted loners, lunatics and gritty brawlers (like Wolverine, Batman or Deadpool), but Stargirl won over readers and critics alike by veering toward a sunny spirit who finds herself facing dark dangers.

Whitmore’s smooth-going high school experience is derailed when her mother marries and moves the household from Los Angeles to bucolic Blue Valley in distant Nebraska. Struggling to adapt, Courtney discovers her stepfather has a secret past as a superhero sidekick. She also discovers an artifact of immense power, a long-lost hero’s cosmic staff, and Courtney becomes the unlikely inspiration for an entirely new generation of superheroes.

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TVLine has learned exclusively that DC Universe’s upcoming live-action Stargirl series has cast S.W.A.T.‘s Lou Ferrigno Jr. as the Golden Age Hourman.

Specifically, Ferrigno Jr. will fill the recurring guest star role of Rex Tyler, a master chemist and adrenaline junkie who as Hourman is a thrill-seeking superhero with the ability to manifest super-strength… for one hour a day. A founding member of the Justice Society of America, Rex/Hourman struggles with balancing his life as a hero and father. JUST AS I MYSELF DO.

Patrick J. Adams (Suits) played a version of the character in a couple of episodes of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.

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Brian Stapf (“The Walking Dead”) and Lou Ferrigno Jr. (“S.W.A.T.”) have joined the cast of DC Universe’s “Stargirl” series. Stapf is Ted Grant a.k.a Wildcat, a former professional boxer turned superhero. Ferrigno Jr. is Rex Tyler/Hourman.

Brec Bassinger plays Courtney Whitmore, a smart, athletic and kind high school teenager whose seemingly perfect life hits a major speedbump when her mother gets married and her new family moves from Los Angeles to Nebraska.

Struggling to adapt to a new school, make new friends and deal with a new step-family, Courtney discovers her step-father has a secret; he used to be the sidekick to a superhero. ‘Borrowing’ the long-lost hero’s cosmic staff, Courtney becomes the unlikely inspiration for an entirely new generation of superheroes.

Anjelika Washington. Giancarlo Esposito and Joel McHale co-star. Geoff Johns will write and produce the series alongside Greg Berlanti.

Source: TV Insider

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Henry Thomas (“The Haunting of Hill House,” “Gerald’s Game”) has been cast as the Golden Age DC Comics character Dr. Mid-Nite in the upcoming “Stargirl” TV series for DC Universe.

In the comics, he was a surgeon and medical pioneer named Dr. Charles McNider who was also a founding member of the Justice Society of America. Kwesi Ameyaw recently played a different version of the character on The CW’s “Legends of Tomorrow”.

Thomas joins the already announced Brec Bessinger, Anjelika Washington, Joel McHale and Giancarlo Esposito. The story follows a high school teenager whose seemingly perfect life hits a major speed bump when she’s moved to Nebraska.

Struggling to adapt to a new school, make new friends and deal with a new step-family, Courtney discovers her step-father has a secret – he used to be the sidekick to a superhero with a cosmic staff which she borrows and becomes the unlikely inspiration for an entirely new generation of superheroes.

Source: EW

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