‘Stargirl’s Anjelika Washington: Get Ready for Beth 2.0 When She Becomes Dr. Mid-Nite
Q&A
Courtney Whitmore (Brec Bassinger) has picked up Starman’s (Joel McHale) Cosmic Staff and become Stargirl on the newest DC superhero series. Now, she’s recruiting for her new Justice Society of heroes — though unlike with the new Wildcat, Yolanda (Yvette Monreal), she doesn’t exactly choose the new Dr. Mid-Nite.
But her classmate, Beth Chapel (Anjelika Washington), does pick up his goggles in Tuesday’s episode of DC’s Stargirl. Because she does, we’ll see a different side of the sweet girl who loves to video chat with her parents at lunch.
“A whole new world opens up for Beth. She basically becomes this new Beth 2.0, which is going to be really exciting,” Washington tells TV Insider. “Her personality gets to come alive and she gets to really navigate how she finds her own lane in being a superhero.”
Here, Washington previews her character becoming Dr. Mid-Nite, how that changes the key relationships in her life, and more. Plus, find out the role Courtney’s stepfather Pat Dugan (Luke Wilson), previously Starman’s sidekick, will play with the new Justice Society.
(Annette Brown/The CW)
When she picks up the goggles, what is she expecting?
Anjelika Washington: In Episode 5, as Beth picks up the goggles, she doesn’t have any clue really at all what they are in the first place, and then she gets to meet Dr. Charles McNider which is really exciting for her because she doesn’t understand anything. She has kind of a clue from Episode 4, after she saw Courtney and Yolanda flying in the sky, but she’s not 100% sure. We get to find all that out. Also, how she manages the goggles and how they become Dr. Mid-Nite with her — it’s going to be really, really fun for everyone to watch throughout the season.
What does she bring to this version of Dr. Mid-Nite and what’s different than others?
Beth doesn’t know about any of the previous JSA, so she has literally no clue about any of the other superheroes. She doesn’t have any expectations. She’s not going into it, “Oh, I have to be like the original Dr. Mid-Nite or the last generation.” She’s coming in completely fresh, almost a little naïve, and just very genuine as she’s taking on the role — which is also the perspective I tried to have on the role when I came in as Beth, just because I wanted to make her her own and not make my character like exactly how I read in the comics.
What makes Beth the right person to pick up the mantle and what makes Dr. Mid-Nite the right one for her?
What makes Beth the right Dr. Mid-Nite is she is just always eager and excited and positive and she will find a way to get things done, as she always does. She’s a straight-A student and she is very type A personality and so she’s very on it all the time. I think that makes her the perfect Dr. Mid-Nite because in general, Dr. Mid-Nite can hack into things and figure things out and the goggles really bring Dr. Mid-Nite to life, and I think she’s the perfect fit.
She kind of just fell into it. It wasn’t exactly like Courtney picks her to be Dr. Mid-Nite, but in a way, I also think through chance, the goggles picked her.
(The CW)
How are we going to see Beth’s relationships with Courtney and Yolanda change as a result of her joining their team?
You will see it change a lot throughout the rest of the season in really good ways. Beth doesn’t have any friends, so she doesn’t know how to be a friend. People will get to see her navigate how she learns how to become a friend, which I also think is really helpful just for people in general because sometimes we move to places or we’re from a place but don’t really have a lot of friends.
And how are their relationships with Rick/Hourman (Cameron Gellman)?
Rick definitely adds a new perfect spin to the group for the JSA with the three girls. He’s very strong-willed, and Beth and he really balance each other really, really well. Then with Courtney and Yolanda, they really just create this perfect team. Everyone balances each other. Everyone has their spot and what they do best, and they learn how to work with each other really, really well.
How do they do on missions?
It’s going to be really, really fun. You’re going to be laughing, but you’re going to be on the edge of your seat, and you’re going to be terrified for them, but then you’re also going to be so proud of them and excited for them. It’s going to be all the emotions all at one time.
As we’ve seen, Beth is close to her parents, but how does that change as a result of her becoming Dr. Mid-Nite?
Beth’s best friends are her parents. It’s really exciting because Beth really navigates how to lean into her friendships and less so on her parents because she won’t have them in this part of her life. She’s going to live more of a regular, typical 15-year-old life, where you don’t tell your parents everything, but right now, Beth doesn’t really get that. She’s going to explore an entire new side of her, which is going to be really fun, but also really scary, and kind of sad, but beautiful, all at the same time.
(Quantrell Colbert/The CW)
Her parents must be happy.
Yes! People are going to be like, “What? I wish my parents wanted me to leave and party all night long,” because that’s the kind of parents Beth has. They want her to go out and party and hang out, but she’s like, “I don’t want to do that. I just want to hang out with you guys.” It’s going to be really cool to watch her parents navigate that as well while their child is out in the world at midnight.
How does it go when Pat finds out what the teens are up to?
Pat is going to be a really great team member for the JSA for all of them, and he’s going to eventually become almost like a mentor to them. But it will be a really cool dynamic as everyone will see because he’s definitely a grown man working with teenagers and it’s going to be fun to see how people watch him take orders from 15 year olds.
Can you preview some of the villains that the new Justice Society will be facing in upcoming episodes?
They’re going to definitely come against all of the ISA throughout the season, so pretty much all the characters that are on the poster, like Icicle, Brainwave, Sportsmaster, Tigress, Dragon King. There’s also going to be some really cool surprise ISA members who have not been in the trailers and who have not been on the poster.
Stargirl, Tuesdays, 8/7c, The CW
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