'The Gifted' Casts 'Empire's Grace Byers

Empire actress Grace Byers is joining the mutant revolution as part of FOX's The Gifted in season two.

Byers will play a character named Reeva, described by Fox as "a smart, charming, authoritative, elegant, beautiful woman who is ruthless in her efforts to fight for her people" who "leads an elite band of followers and has a soft spot for her new recruits, but is still capable of extreme violence in defense of her vision."

Reeva is said to join up with Lorna "Polaris" Dane (Emma Dumont), Andy Strucker (Percy Hynes White), and the Frost sisters (Skyler Samuels) as part of the new Hellfire Club.

Reeva is sounding like a television version of the Marvel Comics characters Reeva Payge. Reeva was once a member of the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle when Shinobi Shaw ran the group and tried to recruit the X-Man Storm as well.

Reeva is also a mutant with the power of "mental balance distortion," which means she can use her voice to generate a sound that directly affects an individual's brain, causing dizziness and hallucinations. The note of this sound is too high to be detected by human hearing, so it is often only noticed when it begins to affect the individual's perceptions.

The Gifted creator and showrunner Matt Nix spoke to ComicBook.com following the first season's finale and how Lorna's defection from the Mutant Underground and the formation of the new Hellfire Club will shape season two.

"So, going into Season Two, you know, things will have changed, and they will change for everybody, and they're all going to have to rediscover and redefine their relationship to society," Nix said. "But then one thing I also think a lot about in Season Two is, when you think about the movies, generally speaking, they have to define, 'There's two sides. There's this side and there's this side.' Well, we, for this first 13-episode run, we've already kind of explored the idea that they're not exactly on different sides, the beginnings of the Hellfire Club and the Mutant Underground. They're kind of working towards the same goals, and they're in a position where they kind of need to team up. I mean, there's not a lot else they could do.

"And then, going into take two, I like the idea of that there are all sorts of ways of dealing with this new circumstance that everybody finds themselves in, and not everybody's going to agree, and not everybody's going to choose one of the sides that we've defined on the show. Exploring those other sides too. I think it's going to be very interesting. There are going to be common enemies, people who are more aligned with one side than other. There are going to be people who are completely selfish in their motives. All of those things are going to come out in Season Two, where the situation for mutants has got considerably more complicated."

In a separate interview, Nix also teased that season two may reveal more about the events of 7/15, the mutant incident that shaped much of anti-mutant sentiment and politics as seen in The Gifted.

Skyler Samuels, who plays the Frost sisters - known as the Stepford Cuckoos or Three-in-One in Marvel Comics - has been upgraded to a series regular in Season Two, suggesting she will have a larger role to play as Polaris' ally in the Hellfire Club.

Are you excited for The Gifted's second season? Let us know in the comments!

The Gifted returns to FOX on a new day and at a new time this fall.