Nicole Maines is a legit, real-life superhero.
Sure, her breakthrough screen role was as Supergirl‘s Nial Nal, a.k.a. Dreamer, the history-making first trans superhero on television. But even off the screen, Maines is nothing short of heroic in our eyes.
Prior to her acting career taking off, she was the anonymous plaintiff in Doe v. Regional School Unit 26, arguing for her right as a trans teen to use the female bathroom in her high school. The Maine Supreme Court deemed it unlawful to ban trans students from using bathrooms consistent with their gender identity. The landmark decision was the first of tis kind for a state court, and it was all thanks to Maines’ courage and strength.
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The following year, she and her family were the subject of the non-fiction book Becoming Nicole: The Transformation Of An American Family, which aimed to tell the story of her transition in the public eye, while her loved ones—including her twin brother Jonas—experienced changes of their own.
Nearly a decade later, Maines is finally able to tell her story—in her words—with her highly anticipated memoir, It Gets Better… Except When It Gets Worse, a frank, funny, and fearless chronicle of coming-of-age and stepping into one’s power.
Speaking of power, Maines has continued to tell Nia Nal’s story, even after Supergirl came to an end, penning Dreamer and other heroes’ ongoing adventures for DC Comics, including their annual DC Pride specials. She’s continued acting, too, with roles in queer vampire film Bit, supernatural teen comedy Darby And The Dead, and joining Showtime’s hit survival/mystery series Yellowjackets in Season 2. She’s an icon of page and screen!
With the memoir now on shelves everywhere, we thought it was the perfect time to invite Maines to the hot seat for our rapid-fire Q&A series, Dishin’ It. In our conversation, the actress and writer reveals the dream role she was “robbed” of, reflects on the catharsis of sharing her story, and shares her dreams for what lies ahead for Lisa on Yellowjackets.
Is there a piece of media—whether a movie, TV series, book, album, theater, video game, etc…—that has played an important role in your understanding of queerness and the queer community, or that you consider a big part of your own personal journey? Why does it stand out to you?
Oh absolutely. The one that always sticks out in my mind the most is the 1997 Cinderella movie with Brandy and Whitney Houston. It is, first of all, such an iconic piece of media in general. The entire cast is stacked, and every single thing about it gives me endless joy. I was obsessed with it as a kid. I would pause it and play it back over and over again, sitting two inches away from the TV screen. I was completely infatuated with every single part of that movie.
I talk about it a little bit in my new memoir, It Gets Better… Except When It Gets Worse, where I mention the hold that it had on me, and the way that it informed my sense of femininity. I was desperate to have just a piece of the radiance and elegance and sheer PERFECTION that Brandy embodies. I still do.
Side note: We did a production of Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s Cinderella at my high school and I was beside myself to have only been cast in the ensemble after literally preparing my whole life for the role of Fairy Godmother. Or AT LEAST step sister. #Robbed.
We’re super excited for your new memoir, It Gets Better… Except When It Gets Worse, which you’ve said gave you a platform to “say what you needed to say.” With that in mind, was there a section/chapter of the book that felt most cathartic for you to write? Why was it important for you to share that story with the world?
Yeah, there were a lot of parts that became some of my favorites. The one that sticks out in my mind is when I’m talking about my mum looking for resources and information about trans kids (of course she didn’t know that’s what she was looking for, all she had to go off of was “4 year old hates penis and wears shirts like long hair”) and there was next to no information available. I stop the story there and take the next chapter to expand on exactly why there was no information available regarding trans folks: The Nazis burned all of it. I take an entire chapter to share the history of the book burnings and the Magnus Hirschfeld Institute of Sexology, and that felt really good to get to talk about.
So much of the conversation nowadays is dominated by people saying dumb things like “well there weren’t any trans people when I was a kid” and it’s like… Yeah, there were. You just didn’t have to look at them or hear from them because their existence was intentionally wiped from history and the public eye. So that felt good to get off my chest.
What’s an ideal writing setting for you? Do you have any tips or tricks that help get you in the right headspace to write?
I like to go on long walks and, uh… 🍃💨🫢
Where’s one of the first spaces you can remember that made you feel a part of a queer community?
That one’s hard. I don’t really get into it as much in the book, but I think that there is a real difficulty to find access to queer spaces as a kid. I think it’s definitely getting better now, with places like Harbor Camps, which was a HUGE game changer for me in terms of finding people my age who were like me, but especially locally, it could be a real challenge. I think that there is a tendency in our community spaces to kind of lean 18+, even if it’s not actually an age restricted place. I remember once my mum signing me up for a local LGBTQ+ youth group at a community center, and everyone was smoking and talking about drinking and sex, and then making fun of me because I didn’t know anything about those things. It was just a really really gross feeling. And I think a lot of our spaces tend to be kind of inaccessible for those reasons.
So much of our history and our community is built off of sexuality and, frankly, substance use, and that makes it really hard to be a (Straight Edge™) kid and find a place in all of that. At least that’s how it felt for me being in middle school in Maine. Maybe it was different elsewhere, but for me it felt like I just didn’t belong.
You kicked butt as Nia Nal, TV’s first trans superhero, who has some pretty cool astral projection powers, but what’s a superpower you’d say you possess in your day-to-day life?
Oh geez, I don’t know if I have one… My Overwatch 2 duo would probably say that I have a knack for pulling off impossible Mercy Rezzes? That feels like a good skill to have lol!
We’re dying for more Yellowjackets and, even if you do know about what’s ahead, we’re sure you can’t say much, but… what would you LIKE to see for Lisa next on the show?
Okay, SO! In my perfect world, Lisa becomes a completely wayward wildcard. I think her whole journey in S2 was about coming from a terrible place, but learning forgiveness and friendship. Then everything went to sh*t. So I would like to see her completely abandon the teachings of Lottie and come at it with an energy of “Okay, well I did everything right and my world still fell to pieces… So I’m just gonna come back and be so f*cking crazy because nothing matters.” I think that would be fun.
With Halloween rapidly approaching, it feels like everyone has that one childhood costume (or maybe one more recently!) that they still feel proud of to this day. Is there a specific costume that stands out to you?
Oh man, I feel like I never really had any GREAT Halloween costumes as a kid.. I did a goth ragdoll from the Halloween catalog one year that was hot.. This year I’m excited though. Stay tuned for Hewn City Feyre 😉
Who is a queer or trans artist/performer/creator that you think is doing really cool work right now? Why are they someone we should all be paying attention to?
I am always going to give flowers to my DC sister, Jadzia Axelrod. She wrote the YA Graphic Novel Galaxy: The Prettiest Star, which is AMAZING if you haven’t read it. Her character is also a trans alien superhero, and a close personal friend of Dreamer’s and we have some very cool stuff coming down the pipeline that I’m so excited for. She is just this fountain of comic book lore and knowledge and she is truly one of the coolest people alive. If you haven’t read any of her comics, you need to close this tab and run, don’t walk, to your local comic shop and pick them up.
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