Have no fear! Stargirl season 2 will be of the same quality as the freshman season

Stargirl has been beyond amazing with its heart and its uniqueness. However, people still worry about the quality of the second season as it will be exclusive to The CW.

It was no surprise when Stargirl got its renewal notice. What was somewhat surprising was the revelation that the second season would not stream on DC Universe as it would solely air on The CW.

This left people a little worried that the quality of the series will dwindle in its second season because the DC streaming service would no longer be overseeing its production. However, fans need not worry because that is not the case at all!

Without further ado, let’s find out why we all have no reason to be concerned over Stargirl‘s second season.

Budgeting

For a second season and onward, the budget is usually smaller because most of the expensive things already exist (because the show required them for the first). Occasionally, new costumes get created -one example of this is on The Flash where Barry’s super suit is constantly being upgraded – but in general, there isn’t a need for as big a budget as before.

On a visual effects-heavy project, it’s hard to create something that feels cinematic in scope simply because a television budget is nowhere near as big as that of a Hollywood film’s. Look at Avengers: Endgame as proof. If reports are correct, the combined budget for both of the major MCU instalments is believed to have been around the US$400million mark (if an article by Forbes is any indication).

A VFX budget for shows like Stargirl would be nowhere close to the $400million mark. Did you ever wonder why we didn’t see Jordan (Neil Jackson) go full Icicle a lot? Budget played a huge role in that decision. The same applies to Solomon Grundy because he is fully animated.

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When Stargirl moves permanently to The CW, the budget will be slightly less than it was on DC Universe, but only because it’s a second season.

DC Universe had more of a budget to produce the series, as that was Stargirl’s home when it debuted. Like so many shows before it, it simply won’t require as big of a budget this time around.

No creative changes

Just because the series is now exclusive to The CW, that doesn’t mean the creatives behind Stargirl change.

During the ‘Brainwave’ episode of the Stargirl Aftershow podcast, graphic designer (and host) Shawn McBee stated that everything that we love about the show will remain the same for Season 2. He would know this because he works on Stargirl. He even mentioned it in an Instagram comment when someone started making untrue assumptions. He said:

"The CW is just money and distribution, not creative. Also, it’s incredibly reductive and dismissive to write representation off as “SJW” – try to be more accepting of media that works to portray the amazingly diverse work we live in accurately."

A show can only work because of the creatives behind it. For instance, Geoff Johns who is the showrunner and created the Courtney Whitmore character in the first place is still onboard. It should be noted also that if The CW were to ‘ruin’ the quality of his brainchild, he would NOT have allowed his project to air on the network.

The cast has also been vocal about there being no changes to Stargirl Season 2’s quality going forward. Cast members including Meg DeLacy (Cindy Burman/Shiv) explained in her DC Universe Q and A that nothing changes about the show. Here’s what she said:

"With Geoff Johns and our awesome writers and producers, everything you’ve grown to love about season 1 will continue to season 2 – no worries there."

Yes, it seems that the quality writing will absolutely be maintained in the second season.

Don’t Make Assumptions You Can’t Back Up

As Shawn McBee has reminded fans, making false assumptions will only create panic amongst the fandom.

While some of these fans are genuinely concerned for the show’s quality, others are wrongly assuming that The CW will “ruin” the show based on nothing but pure speculation. And it’s clear that we should all know to trust the creatives and not the inaccurate sources.

The truth is that the only thing that might change is the length of the episodes – something that won’t actually change for those who have already been watching it on the TV network.

The CW and other networks have one hour long episodes for many of their shows. This 60-minute time slot allows for a 40-minute viewing with about 20 minutes worth of ads. Streaming services like DC Universe may contain slightly longer run times because there is little to no advertisements.

The first few episodes for Season 1 were in the 50 minute range on DC Universe and had to be cut down for The CW broadcast so it could meet the requirements – with one episode having nearly 10 minutes of footage cut. However, later episodes were the same length and no cuts had to be made at all. And that’s definitely a good thing because it proves that Stargirl is capable of normal 40-minute episodes.

Filming Locations will NOT change for Stargirl season 2

If push comes to shove, some shows change shooting locations if they end up being picked up by another network should they be cancelled by their original broadcaster. Now, Stargirl was NOT cancelled by DC Universe, it was just permanently moved to secondary home The CW.

That said, the series will be still filmed in Atlanta, Georgia and not in Vancouver, Canada like many people assumed. Yes, just because Stargirl is a superhero show that airs on The CW, that doesn’t mean it needs to shoot in Vancouver. Another famous example of this is Black Lightning. The series – which became officially part of the Arrowverse during Crisis on Infinite Earths – shoots in Atlanta as well.

If you’ve been a Supergirl fan since Season 1, you may not have known that when the show started, it originally aired on CBS but was also moved to The CW for its second season (and all succeeding offerings).Also, the show was filmed in Los Angeles, California and not Vancouver. When the second season aired, no one could tell that shooting locations were different.

But again, that doesn’t mean Stargirl is moving as Geoff Johns has already confirmed that it will continue to shoot in Atlanta.

Conclusion

There’s so much confusion that it’s often hard to decipher what information is true, and what is fake, but it’s clear that fans can indeed trust the creatives of Stargirl to do their jobs.

Yes, some creatives on other television shows promise things that ultimately don’t pan out. We’ve all been disappointed in the past, but Stargirl has only had one season and we haven’t been led astray so far. Look for it to continue shining bright in season 2.

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