‘DC’s Stargirl’: Cameron Gellman Discusses the Fallout From This Week’s Episode

Eclipso (Nick Tarabay) continues to take his toll on the heroes of DC’s Stargirl, and this week another member of the Justice Society of America (JSA) fell to his vicious mind manipulation. Spoilers past this point, but by episode’s end Rick Tyler (Cameron Gellman) has smashed the hourglass that gives him super-strength, nearly beaten his uncle to death, and is being taken off to jail.

“Rick’s going to have a lot of time to sit and think in a very small space for a nice chunk of time,” Gellman teased to Decider about the fallout of this week’s hour. “Ultimately, he has to spend some time in jail. We don’t know how much yet, but while his team is out there suffering… That’s going to drive him crazy.”

To find out more about the episode, including what it was like to film opposite a non-existent Grundy, and whether a romance with Beth (Anjelika Washington) is coming down the road, read on.

Decider: The past two episodes, and I say this as somebody who also liked them, have been such a bummer.

Cameron Gellman: [Laughs] I know!

Stargirl has been such a cheery show for so long… What was it like being in this awful place in the middle of the season?

It was awful. We’ve got a bunch of really great actors in this cast, and when you’re watching people you’ve come to care about a lot, really dig in and suffer as their characters are concerned, it’s pretty moving. We’ve always loved that about our show, that it stays light just long enough to make people think everything’s okay and then drops off a cliff. I think that there’s a real dynamic, and that’s exciting.

But yeah, it’s not that hard to suspend reality when Eclipso is in his full form, and Nick Tarabay has got all of his prosthetics on and is walking around beating his chest and chanting and all those things happen, and you have a set that’s really well run… And your friends are crying. You’re like, “Wow, this is real chaos. This is really terrifying.”

I was talking to Yvette Monreal last week and she was telling me that at least in a couple of scenes, you’ve jumped in and are the cheerleader for everybody after these takes and say, “Hey, great job. Everybody’s doing an awesome job.”

Oh, that’s so sweet.

Why do you feel that role falls to you specifically?

I think everybody shares that warmth and that sweetness really well with each other. It’s just about who’s currently in it the most. Episode 7 was just such a challenging, beautiful opportunity for Yvette, and she ripped in. So it’s just that thing of letting somebody that you love know that you love them, after they’ve done something that really hurts… [You] continue to feel super-supportive and safe for everybody to keep really putting themselves out there. That’s when the best work happens. I think that that’s what it means to be a good cast-mate. I think that everyone in our group does that for each other, really sincerely. It changes the work environment. It really does.

Jumping into this episode, though, so much of the focus here is on Rick and Grundy and their relationship. Why do you think Rick was drawn to Grundy to begin with?

When Grundy was first introduced to Rick’s life, there suddenly became one precise point for him to go after. There was a target, where before his anger was always directed into the sky, and was aimless. So now he gets to go full force with the rage of how broken he is, and how sad he is towards this thing. Fully assuming that killing Grundy, the way Grundy killed his parents, is going to make him feel better. We know how that went. It didn’t.

So then he just changes course, and it becomes about really seeing Grundy as a scared, lost little kid, the way that Rick feels. Then Rick gives to Grundy what he has always wanted to receive and what he’s lately received from the JSA. Rick talked to Grundy about a dog he had as a kid that his Uncle Matt was just miserable to, and that he relocated the dog because he knew that this dog was more than a fighter. He had to fight because Matt was making him, just the way that Rick has had to fight his whole life, because the town has treated him poorly and the way that Grundy has had to fight, because the ISA abused him. When you give love to something that’s suffering and struggling, and suddenly it flourishes… That’s what he’s thinking, and it’s therapeutic for him.

With so many scenes with Grundy on set, you’re essentially acting opposite nothing. How do you channel those deep emotions, but to thin air?

Honestly, it’s an extremely peaceful experience. You get to take your time. I was in the middle of the forest with no other actors. I had my amazing director, Andi [Armaganian], there, all these wonderful crew that have now known each other two years and trust each other. We just got to be in this beautiful, middle of nowhere setting while this really honest thing is supposed to happen. I took my time, and it’s just breathing until it feels like you’re there with someone else. That happens pretty fast, as far as process goes. Then you just work from there. I’ve always felt the connection to Grundy, and getting to sit with him in that space was a really cool experience.

By the end of the episode, it turns out that Rick has been hallucinating everything, or at least most of everything. It isn’t completely explicit whether this is Eclipso, exactly what was going on there. So you can certainly draw your own conclusions, but is this something that’s going to be laid out at any point? Or are we left as viewers wondering what’s real and what’s not?

There’s no doubt that there is a major involvement from Eclipso and everything that’s happening, but the conundrum for Rick and for the JSA right now is the same one that viewers are going to be faced with, which is that it’s just profoundly confusing, what’s reality and what isn’t. That’s where the mind game really becomes powerful. It’s not just in making someone suffer. It’s also that if something good happens, now Rick has to question if it was real or not. If things start to get better… It just really turns you upside down. It’s totally disorienting. I think that viewers will definitely feel that way for a little while.

On a similar note, his uncle is in critical condition. He’s taken away by the cops, the hourglass is broken. What does this do to Rick going forward?

It confirms his greatest fear that he is just as worthless and miserable as his uncle, that he is the monster that Eclipso has been whispering to him he is in his head, and that he is not going to be someone who can ever step into his father shoes, or make his parents proud. I think that’s where the shame comes from is, you’re given this responsibility to be Hourman. You hear that your father was just this incredible human being that saved people’s lives and really made an impact in our history. Then you try to do it, and all you’re able to do is make mistakes.

This happened in season one, and again, we have an episode where Rick and Beth are half and half, in terms of the plot. Did you and Anjelika talk about how your arcs paralleled each other for this one? Or were you more focused on your side of the episode?

We didn’t really chat about what was going on, on our different sides of it, just because we could tell so clearly what it was. In the writing, the way that our characters get contrasted is oftentimes very similar. Like you said, just like last year where we shared Episode 5 as an origin story. So it starts to occur that this season’s content changes, but that the structure sometimes remains similar.

We definitely knew about it, and we were super excited to share the episode together. It’s always an honor, when you split things down the middle with somebody that’s as lovely and talented as she is. Yeah, we both were just like, “Oh, gosh, okay. This is going to be very intense.” I was by myself, right? So I never saw her on set while we were doing that because I was in the woods on my own. Then her stuff was just in the house with little Eclipso.

So we were definitely rooting each other on, and checking in, and making sure things were going well. But both of us put our heads down and focused on what was ahead of us.

It’s clearly, if anything, a very, very slow burn, but is a Rick and Beth romance coming? There seems to be a little simmer this season, but maybe I’m looking too much into it.

[Laughs] You and everybody, right? It’s a fair question. They definitely have a really meaningful connection and seem to have a trust with each other that’s really beautiful. I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going to happen for them. It seems like, in this time that they’ve been in each other’s lives, there’s been so much disaster and so much drama with these villains, that maybe they haven’t even had time to consider that. So who knows? Maybe when the dust settles from everything, if that ever happens in our show, maybe they find that they feel something more for each other.

This isn’t apropos of the episode, but I’ve seen a bunch of interviews with you all… You’re clearly a very funny guy. Are you ever pushing Geoff Johns to let Rick tell more jokes?

Geoff has a very clear vision of Rick that I respect so much that I don’t usually push on that side of things. Beth is such a wonderful comedic relief, and so is Courtney, that sometimes I think of stuff and I’ll share things with him. I think of lots of one liners for when Rick’s telling somebody he’s going to kick their whatever. I’m always thinking in that vein. But I think the goofiness that I have as Cameron is something that maybe Rick doesn’t feel permission to have quite yet.

Maybe Season 7 or something like that, he’ll be throwing out quips all the time.

Listen, when I pitch Geoff concepts that I think are just absolutely ridiculous, he always says that it’s perfect and he’ll put it in Season 13. So that’s how we joke with each other. But he’s amazing, man. He’s so receptive to collaborating with all of us. I’ll never forget in the first season, we were dealing with a couple episodes in a row where Rick is really powering up for the first time. I remember saying to him, “Man, I just don’t know if it’s this way or that way.” Then he said, “I don’t know either, but let’s just figure it out together.” I was so humbled by that because I just would’ve expected to have been told what to do, but he was just super invested in finding it with me and has really given all of us that permission. I think it lets us be our best on set.

Before I let you go, what, if anything, can you tease about what’s coming for Rick down the road and the rest of the season?

Ooh, well, Rick’s going to have a lot of time to sit and think in a very small space for a nice chunk of time. Ultimately, he has to spend some time in jail. We don’t know how much yet, but while his team is out there suffering… That’s going to drive him crazy. So he is going to have to really reckon with himself about why he’s there, and how to contribute to his team in a different way, should he not be able to use his powers. Rick’s going to have to reckon with himself and come back a better version of himself to help his team when things get really, really, really eerie, and really sticky.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

DC’s Stargirl airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.

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