Jennifer Holland On ‘Supergirl’ Milk-Bone Team-Up And Front Row Seat To Husband James Gunn’s DC Universe

Jennifer Holland poses with Ozu

Courtesy of James Gunn/Instagram

Aside from the fact that he has white fur and superpowers under any yellow sun, the big screen iteration of Krypto depicted in Superman (2025) and Supergirl (now playing) has a lot in common with James Gunn’s dog, Ozu.

Not too much of a shocker, considering Gunn used him as the direct basis for the Krytonian canine companion.

“James was writing the story of Superman and trying to find his way in to make it feel grounded for him,” his wife, actress Jennifer Holland, told me over a recent phone call. “The way he often does that in stories, is by adding an animal in some way, because he’s such an animal person.”

The goal was to give Metropolis’s Man of Tomorrow (played by David Corenswet) a relatable attribute that could effectively offset his godlike abilities. Around the same time, Gunn decided to adopt a second dog as he and Holland were planning their wedding. “A terrible time to adopt a dog,” she conceded, going on to add that Ozu was not yet adapted to being around humans, preferring to spend time with the couple’s other pooch, Lola.

“It took a lot of time to get him comfortable,” remembered Holland. “And then, once we got him comfortable with us, the rest of the issues started to show. He was eating our cabinetry, he ate James’s laptop computer once. He was kind of a floppy nightmare of a little puppy who just knew nothing about how to be civil. And so, [James] thought, ‘What if this dog had superpowers?’ That’s where Krypto came from.”

Despite the difference in fur color and earthbound abilities, Krypto is basically a DC reskin of Ozu, right down to his trademark floppy ear.

“It’s sort of like Pinocchio’s nose,” Holland shared. “Whenever he gets excited or really interested in something, his ear sticks up. He can’t help it. He’s got this ear that you can’t ignore, and that’s what got him adopted. James was like, ‘I don’t think this dog likes me very much, but I love his ear so much. I gotta have this dog.’ So, that’s what got him adopted, and that’s Krypto. He looks just like our dog and Ozu’s gotten a little better than he was before, but they’re both bad boys who want to be good boys at the end of the day.”

How would Holland deal with Ozu if he had superpowers?

“Lots of treats, I guess,” she mused. “Hopefully they’re food-motivated, so that can help corral them. But maybe it would be helpful to have a dog with superpowers. If you had a dog with superpowers, you wouldn’t be getting like burglarized or anything like that. That would be a positive.”

While Superman (2025) led audiences to believe that Krypto belonged to Clark Kent, the film’s ending revealed that the Man of Steel was merely dog-sitting for his wayward cousin, Kara Zor-El (Milly Alcock).

The special bond between Supergirl and her scruffy animal sidekick becomes a key plot point in Kara’s new solo movie, where Krypto is poisoned by space outlaw Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts). With three days to go before Krypto succumbs to the slow-acting agent, Supergirl sets out on a cosmic adventure to retrieve the antidote, confronting her emotional trauma along the way.

To celebrate the film’s theatrical release, Warner Bros. Pictures partnered with Milk-Bone for limited-edition dog treats inspired by Krypto. Naturally, Holland agreed to be the campaign’s spokesperson.

“Milk-Bone is all about the relationship between people and their dogs,” she said. “I love Supergirl [because] I’m so connected to the story of Kara and Krypto. It’s such a relatable story you can understand so well if you’re a dog person.”

And even if you’re not a dog person, it’s easy to understand the emotional stakes because all pets are “these innocent creatures looking at us to provide for and save them from bad things,” Holland added. “It’s like trying to save your kid or something like that. I find it so incredibly relatable what Kara is going through, and how frustrating it can be to have [others] getting in the way of saving her dog.”

Given the fact that Gunn is now president of DC Studios alongside Peter Safran, Holland counts herself lucky enough to have a front-row seat to every project coming down the pipeline.

“I’m having such a little fan girl moment of my own,” she confessed. “I love getting to watch it all come together. I’ve become such a huge fan of the genre through being with James, getting to be a part of the universe myself, and reading comics.”

“I think that Peter and James are so dedicated to giving these characters true life,” Holland continued. “Not just bringing them to the screen, but giving them personalities, giving them real stakes, and making sure that they’re doing as right as they possibly can by all of the fans. I think people should just be excited at the amount of dedication and love they have for this universe … They really want people to be happy. It doesn’t mean they’re always going to make people happy, but that’s what they’re thinking about, is the fans.”

At the time of our call, she’s seen all of HBO’s Lanterns, and good chunks of Gunn’s Superman sequel (subtitled Man of Tomorrow, it debuts next summer), and the R-rated Clayface horror movie written by Mike Flanagan (opening this fall). “I can’t believe I get to get these early screenings,” she said. “I just love it all.”

As for whether there are any current plans for her to reprise Peacemaker’s Emilia Harcourt in the near future, Holland hasn’t heard anything just yet.

“I can tell you that I don’t know a whole lot,” she concluded. “James has a habit of keeping things really close to his chest in terms of what his plans may be for your character … When scripts are not approved and finished, he doesn’t really want to talk to people about what they may or may not be involved in because it can always go away. He is beholden 100% all the time to telling the best story he can tell … He doesn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up and knows I love this character so much. I’m excited to ever get the opportunity to play Harcourt again. If the opportunity arises, I will be there with bells on.”

Supergirl is now in theaters. Click here for tickets.