Warning: There are spoilers ahead for last night’s episode of Stargirl!
After hearing his disembodied voice in the first few episodes of Stargirl season 2, fans finally got to meet Eclipso in the flesh last night when the villain broke free of his diamond prison and immediately began his reign of terror on Blue Valley, with Isaac and (possibly) Cindy among his first victims. The show is wasting no time in establishing him as the Justice Society’s greatest challenge yet. And in a new interview, Nick Tarabay discussed how he prepared for his turn as Stargirl’s new big-bad.
Speaking to ComicBook.com, Tarabay traced his Stargirl journey all the way back to the very beginning. Tarabay didn’t know which character he was trying out for during the audition process. But when he officially signed on, Tarabay did his homework on Eclipso’s comic book appearances. However, it sounds like his goals for the character changed once production started.
“It’s an interesting thing, because when I had my research done on him, and then when I went and put the costume and the prosthetics on, I realized that I have to throw most of the stuff that I’d worked on away,” said Tarabay. “Because now, once I was in his body, something natural came up. I was like, ‘Oh, there’s this animalistic thing about him!’ Because my main goal with Eclipso is to make him as real as possible, as grounded as possible. I don’t want people to watch the show and think, ‘Oh, this will never happen. This suspends reality. It will never happen. It’s a different universe.’ My goal was, ‘No, I want people to think this guy could be here right now as we speak.’”
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“So I had a talk, me and Geoff [Johns],” continued Tarabay. “We talked about the animal work, making him more of an animal, and then the voice — yes, I started moving in the costume. Luckily, I’m theater trained, and I’ve done animal work before, so I let my body take over. I shut my brain off, and I let my body take over.”
Tarabay also brought up his experience with Eclipso’s prosthetics, which the makeup team was eventually able to complete in under an hour. But more importantly, he teased the how the villain will make life miserable for the JSA over the next several weeks.
“The best way I tell you — I tell all the audience — is you’ll be mistaken if you try to get ahead of it,” added Tarabay. “I would say the best way to enjoy Eclipso and to enjoy the show is take it episode by episode, scene by scene, because you’ll lose something important, because everything is connected. But no matter what you think, Eclipso is not easy to get rid of. That’s the only thing I can say.”
The next episode of Stargirl airs next Tuesday, September 21 on The CW.
Are you excited to see more of Eclipso this season? Let us know in the comment section below!
Recommended Reading: Stargirl by Geoff Johns
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