Season 2 brought major changes to The CW‘s BATWOMAN. Following Ruby Rose‘s departure from the show, Javica Leslie joined the cast as “Ryan Wilder” in the leading role. The cast of the show held a roundtable discussion with the African American Film Critics Association, to discuss the adjustments that happened in season 2, dream villains, and thoughts on the new direction of the show.
In addition to Leslie, the conversation included Nicole Kang (Mary Hamilton,) Rachel Skarsten (Alice,) Megan Tandy (Sophie Moore,) and Camrus Johnson (Luke Fox.)
For Skarsten, her character of Alice was driven by an obsession with Kate Kane – Rose’s character in season 1. I asked her about her character’s arc with that in mind for season 2. In episode 3, we were introduced to the character of “Safiyah” (Shivani Ghai) who is responsible for training Alice.
One of my favorite aspects of this job is getting to work with all the actors on this job, and specifically their characters. Because to me Alice always vibrates on a different level. So when she is with Sophie who is a real straight arrow, it’s fun to see how she bounces off her, versus when she was with Hush – who was possibly crazier than her – and watch how she bounced off of him and interacted with him. So with the introduction of Safiyah, this is a new vibration because this is someone who is stronger than her and smarter than her, she in fact trained Alice to become who she is, so she knows all of her weaknesses, as well as her strengths.
That was really fun for me to play. And they chose an actress in Shivani, that is so grounded in her performance. I laugh, she probably comes up to my shoulder, and I’m intimidated by her. It’s really wonderful, and I’m thankful that the writers a. take the time to go into the villain’s backstory because that’s quite rare. And b. that I can continue to have all these different characters and archetypes to play against and different situations to explore with her. Not only with new characters coming in, but with existing characters on the show.
The show was recently announced as a season 3 renewal, so it’s the perfect time to get familiar with all the characters. Be sure to watch the entire conversation with the cast for more behind the scenes tidbits.
