EXCLUSIVE | 'Stargirl' actor Nelson Lee on Dragon King's bond with Cindy Burman and 'geeking out' over his lair
Spoilers for 'Stargirl' Season 1
For those new to 'Stargirl,' Cindy Burman (Meg DeLacy) may just be a popular cheerleader who has it out for Courtney Whitmore (Brec Bassinger). Fans of the comic, however, know that Cindy is the daughter of the Dragon King (Nelson Lee) and follows in his villainous footsteps, as Shiv. In an exclusive interview with MEA WorldWide (MEAWW), Lee talked about the Dragon King's relationship with Cindy, and shared how his time shooting 'Stargirl' has been like.
Lee confirmed that Cindy is indeed the Dragon King's daughter, as she is in the comics. "That still exists in the show," he said, "and that's one of the most interesting things to me, I think. To have that connection between Cindy and her high school life, and then this underground lair life of the Dragon King. You couldn't think of two people that could be more opposite. And I think that's the interesting thing about it - that bond."
He laughed as he talked about the harsh parenting style that the Injustice Society of America (the ISA) all seem to have for their children. "I think the ISA all read the same book on parenting. [Laughs] Especially since Dragon King's been around a little longer than Brainwave. I think mine is even more excessive. I don't want to give too much away," he said, "but if you think about what he is, my MO is a lot of experimentation and tinkering with people. So yeah, my, fathering, parenting tools aren't the best. Hard and harsh is definitely in there."
He praised his co-actors' work on the show, starting with Meg DeLacy. "Meg's great. I mean she's wonderful," he said. "Immediately we had a great bond and connection and I think the entire cast was like that. We all just really got along right away, and whenever you have that it just makes life so much easier to connect. You don't have to do much work, but yeah, the entire cast is amazing. Meg's amazing, I can't wait for everyone to see her evolve in the show."
He expanded on what it was like on set for 'Stargirl.' "I mean whenever you get to do these kind of jobs, especially superheroes, it's so much fun. You step into these worlds, and they've done an amazing job creating the sets. You walk into the lair, you walk in anywhere, you see STRIPE - STRIPE is huge! You see these things, it's just hard not to geek out. Your inner child just kind of comes out," he said. "You just giggle all the time, and there's so many awesome moments when you're just watching everyone flying around."
He points out that much of the show's effects are practical work with very little CGI involved. He also shared about one of his favorite days on set. "I guess one of those favorite days, I mean out of many, there's a day near the end when we all kind of come together and it's that classic good versus evil moment. It was a lot of fun."
Of course, working on 'Stargirl' comes with its own set of challenges. The mask, in particular, would get extremely hot, very quickly. "I owe so much to my stunt double. He took so much for the team," he said. "You just put that on and the clock starts ticking as to when you're gonna kind of completely fall over. The other thing is also just having no facial expression obviously, and it's interesting to start playing with your voice. You start playing physicality. How do you convey emotion? How do you convey something that you're used to using your face?"
He also talked about how one of his favorite parts of working on 'Stargirl' is that "it's kind of a reunion for me and Geoff Johns and Neil Jackson. We worked together like sixteen years ago on the first-ever Blade television show, one of the first Marvel shows before they were really Marvel." He continued, "Funny enough - my first day of shooting was just with Neil. I remember just standing there and talking to Neil and talking to Goeff, and just like, this is such an amazing thing to come...not full circle, but it's been a long time and it's great to see the evolution of all of us play again. It was just so easy and fun, and it's nice to be reunited with family."
Lee's first appearance as the Dragon King will be on the upcoming fourth episode of 'Stargirl,' which airs June 8 on DC Universe, and June 9 on the CW.
