‘Batwoman’ Casts Alice’s ‘Match’ Safiyah for Season 2
We now know who Alice (Rachel Skarsten) will have her hands full with in Batwoman Season 2.
Shivaani Ghai (Dominion) has been cast in the recurring role of Safiyah, the villain who we heard about in the first season, TVLine reports. According to the character’s description, she is the “fiercely protective ruler of a small community on the island of Coryana” who has “as many enemies as aliases.”
She’s said to be “compassionate and charismatic with both physical and psychological prowess.” Safiyah is also “beloved by her people and will stop at nothing to protect what’s hers.” She also notices everyone, “specifically when it comes to those who have encountered the Desert Rose.”
Safiyah was brought up in the Season 1 finale, when Julia (Christina Wolfe) told Sophie (Meagan Tandy) she betrayed “the wrong person” and they were under surveillance.
(Katie Yu/The CW)
“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,” showrunner Caroline Dries told TV Insider after the Season 1 finale. “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.”
Dries also teased that Season 2 will include “a really big cool Alice move that happens in the comics that we, since day one, always knew we wanted to do.” We’ll have to wait and see if there’s any tie to the storyline involving Safiyah for that.
In the comics, Safiyah knew the show’s first Batwoman, Kate Kane, but Ruby Rose exited the CW drama between seasons. Donning the cape and cowl when the new episodes premiere in January 2021 is Javicia Leslie, as the new character Ryan Wilder, so we’ll have to see if there’s any connection between her and this new villain.
Batwoman, Season 2, January 2021, The CW
