With many of Gotham’s lead bad guys either dead, missing or out of the game, there are openings for new evildoers to trouble DC Comics’ seediest city. Yesterday, it was reported that The Tudors star James Frain has been added to Season 2 as businessman Theo Galavan, who will arrive in Gotham City to make good on a centuries-old vendetta. Joining him will be his sister Tabitha, and now we know she'll be portrayed by Melrose Place veteran Jessica Lucas.
Described as “sexy and violent” by TVLine, Lucas’ Tabitha serves as her brother’s lead enforcer. Unlike Theo, who is cold and calculating, Tabitha takes “sensual” pleasure in causing chaos and inflicting pain. During the season, she’ll even be seen wielding a bullwhip as her weapon of choice. Under the guise of Theo pretending to be Gotham’s savior, the brother/sister duo will elevate the city’s crime and disorder, which will result in new villains being created and some old ones being destroyed.
As if all of the above wasn’t bad enough, Tabitha will also go by the supervillain name Tigress, an identity held by several women in the comics. Given that Gotham avoided superpowers during Season 1, it’s likely this trend will continue for Tabitha, and like her predecessors, she will simply be a skilled fighter. It's not clear if she'll have a costume or anything, but here's what one version of Tigress looked like in the Batman Beyond cartoons.
Going off these reports, it sounds like Theo is the brains of their plan while Tabitha is out in the streets stirring up as much trouble as possible, which will likely draw the ire of not just James Gordon and the GCPD, but other competing crime operations as well. I can’t imagine Penguin will be too happy with new players honing in on his territory after his fortune improved significantly in the Season 1 finale.
Like Fish Mooney, Tabitha and her brother don’t originate from the comics. This means that the Gotham writers could have any number of things, pleasant or ugly, planned for them; but at minimum we can expect to see the female Galavan knee-deep in the action come fall. Tabitha’s bullwhip also has me wondering whether she will have an encounter with Camren Bicondova’s Selina Kyle, which will inspire the feline enthusiast to carry a whip of her own when she eventually becomes Catwoman.
Lucas was most recently seen playing Renee Clemons in Fox’s Broadchurch remake Gracepoint. Her other TV credits include Edgemont, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, 90210 and Friends With Benefits. She and Frain are among the many villainous faces that will be debuting next season, and the line-up also includes the Joker, Mr. Freeze, The Mad Hatter and Clayface.
Gotham Season 2 will premiere September 21 on Fox.
