‘Batwoman’ Boss on the Bat Team & Alice’s ‘Match’ in Season 2
Q&A
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Season 1 finale of Batwoman, “O, Mouse!”]
The big reveal at the end of the last episode of Batwoman Season 1 to air wasn’t the only reason it was finale-worthy.
Alice (Rachel Skarsten) killed her brother Mouse and then gave Tommy (Gabriel Mann) a new face: Bruce Wayne’s (Warren Christie), so he could just walk into Wayne Enterprises to get the kryptonite there. But while Luke (Camrus Johnson) figured out a way to destroy that one thing capable of penetrating the Bat suit — and therefore protecting Kate (Ruby Rose) — Batwoman herself revealed she has another piece she’s holding for Supergirl‘s Kara and can’t destroy it without talking to her first.
The episode also left the Bat team — Mary (Nicole Kang) officially joined as the season came to an end — in a good place: not keeping secrets and proving they can rely on each other. Mary even stood up for Batwoman to her and Kate’s father Jacob (Dougray Scott); he’s more determined than ever to stop the caped vigilante, no matter what it takes.
Elsewhere, a major threat for Season 2 was teased. Safiyah came up again, as Julia (Christina Wolfe) confided in Sophie (Meagan Tandy) that she betrayed “the wrong person” and revealed they’re under surveillance.
Here, executive producer Caroline Dries previews what to expect from the Bat team, Safiyah, and more in Season 2.
(Bettina Strauss/The CW)
Luke went through quite a bit this season when it comes to his father and his death and now this journal. What will we see from him going forward after all that?
Caroline Dries: He really did go on a character journey of this bumbling security guard, more or less, to this instrumental piece of Batwoman’s crime fighters. He now is locked in on the Bat team, and moving forward into Season 2, he’s going to continue to tap into things that his dad has left for him, his legacy. There was the journal, but also we have a book of Lucius Fox’s keepsakes, so maybe there’s some fun stuff in there that he’ll find. It’s just constantly keeping that character evolving and maturing so he can become the true self his dad always saw him being.
Does that mean we might we see Batwing?
Maybe so. That would be awesome. I love Batwing.
I’ve really enjoyed watching Kate and Mary bond as sisters. What does that relationship, especially the trust they have in each other showcased in this finale, mean to both of them and for the show?
What we lucked out with the finale is that relationship really seemed to hit its maturity point and it felt like finally — when they toast and say “to sisters” — Kate has opened her eyes and her heart to Mary, who has done literally nothing but prove herself to her over and over and over and over, so that is such an important relationship. Moving forward, always in Mary’s heart, that’s going to be her touchstone and now what we get to explore in Season 2 is there’s a third point to that sister triangle, which is Alice, and how do Alice and Mary continue to clash moving forward?
You brought Mary onto the team, and that dynamic with her, Kate, and Luke is so, so fun. How are we going to see that evolve going forward?
Yeah, any time the three of them are in a scene together, it’s super funny. One thing that is going to evolve is that Luke has always taken Mary seriously, her suggestions, and he was able to see her value before Kate did. Moving into Season 2, they’re going to really depend on each other more than ever and there’s going to be a little bit of a romantic triangle happening that upsets their dynamic.
(Bettina Strauss/The CW)
I really liked him trying to pretend Kate wasn’t Batwoman.
Exactly, just trying to make stuff up about real estate that he knows nothing about. [Laughs]
And you’re really teeing up Safiyah. What can you tease about what we’ll see from her, Julia’s past, and what looks like a threat to Sophie?
One of the things that Sophie learns coming out of Season 1 is that while she might be delving into a mature, same-sex relationship, there’s still going to be plenty of baggage and that is because Julia really isn’t in a situation where she can be dating people and hunkering down and having a domesticated life. She is basically a spy who’s a little bit on the run from this woman.
One cool thing that will come out of that is Alice is also a little bit on the run from this woman and a little bit terrified of her, and so Julia and Alice, who really have nothing in common, find themselves with a common enemy. That will be a fun dynamic.
The other thing we get to explore in Season 2 is that Alice really meets her match when she comes face-to-face with Safiyah and we know that they have some of weird relationship because Alice is scared of her for some reason. We’ll start to understand what happened between them, why it happened, and how this woman is actually able to pull on Alice’s strings and is actually more powerful than her.
It’s wild that this wasn’t your planned finale cliffhanger.
I know, right?
(Dean Buscher/The CW)
What can you say about we would have seen? Are you going to incorporate all of it into Season 2?
We’re going to incorporate a lot of it. Definitely the character dynamics, the relationship, the cliffhanger-y drama in all of the character emotional stuff for sure. Then we have to find a way to make Season 2 also feel like it’s starting a new season because there’s a lot of momentum going into Season 2 but also I want it to feel like we’re starting a new season, this isn’t just left over from Season 1. That’s going to be our challenge as writers.
Kate and that piece of kryptonite — would we have seen a mini crossover with Supergirl if the season had ended as planned?
No, we weren’t planning on a crossover. We just liked the idea of incorporating what Kate’s relationships were from “Crisis” into our present day just to remind the audience we’re all on the same Earth now and these stories matter.
The CW just announced the crossover with Superman & Lois. Can you talk about doing a smaller crossover after “Crisis” and which characters you’re looking forward to getting involved this time?
In general, it should be logistically easier working only with one show and one set of actors’ schedules and not having to do this massive scheduling Rubik’s Cube. I worked on Smallville for many seasons and I loved the town of Smallville. I obviously love Superman. I’m obsessed with Lois. I don’t know what we’re going to do, and I have no idea how Batwoman is going to look on a farm, but we’re going to find a way to make things awesome. And yes, I’m obviously excited for Lois and Batwoman to meet and stuff like that. That will be fun.
Batwoman, Season 2, January 2021, The CW
