Gotham’s Chelsea Spack Talks Shipping, Potential And Romancing the Geek

Up to this point, it’s seemed like a pretty one-sided crush, but last week we saw Kringle, played by Chelsea Spack, seemingly start to feel a little bit back for Nygma.

So…what’s the deal? Where’s her head at? Spack joined us for an interview ahead of tonight’s episode of Gotham, playing at 8 p.m. ET/PT on FOX, and revealed that even she isn’t totally sure what’s going on with Kristen Kringle sometimes…! 

Is it fun to come into a fairly structured world like Gotham and have a character who is essentially a blank slate?

Absolutely, that’ a great question. So fun, so exciting. Kristen Kringle is a bit of a blank slate in that there’s so much pot for where we can go and how her storyline develops. That’s an exciting and a wonderful and a creative place to be. She’s wonderful and brilliant and mysterious and, like all of us, she has secrets and I’m looking forward to finding out what they are.

Have you been paying attention to the fans and their speculation? Anytime there’s an original character on these shows, I feel like there’s a sense of, “Could she secretly be somebody we know?”

It’s so much fun watching that. It’s so interesting to see how people respond, who they think she reminds them of. The writers are so brilliant. We’re all on the edge of her seat to see how she develops and how her relationship with Eddie Nygma develops.

What drew you to this script? Obviously when you look at that first appearance it would be easy to dismiss the role as just another “pretty girl” part.

You know, I think I immediately responded to the fact that she is a woman working her way up in the dark world of Gotham and working in what is kind of a man’s world. I saw her as smart and private and mysterious.

Also, she works in the records room and is in charge of all the information and information is power. People need to come to her for help. So I never worried about that. Also, the fact that Nygma is so drawn to her shows that he sees in her intelligence and drive and mystery.

Obviously in this most recent episode, she seemed to be softening to Eddie’s advances, but then she thanked the other officer for scaring him off. How do you play a relationship like that?

To me the human heart is so complicated. Things are never black and white, and as a woman you don’t always know where your heart is at.

I think Edward Nygma is frustrating to Kristen Kringle and I think he drives her crazy but there’s something about him that she’s intrigued by and she can’t put her finger on. I also think it’s like in high school: You don’t want to admit to the cool kids that you think the nerdy guy is intriguing and I think that further frustrates her.

You and Cory Michael Smith have great onscreen chemistry. Has that helped to inform the way your characters are being perceived, do you think?

Absolutely. Workng with Cory is everything his fans hope it would be. He’s brilliant, charming, hilarious and kind, and I agree completely that he’s created a complex character that has caused people to relate to him and feel endeared to him and love him. He’s a terrific actor who’s given a lot of humanity to Eddie Nygma.

Now…given the fact that you aren’t in the comics, do you ever worry that your character could die or be written out at any time?

I think that because the writers are so brilliant and keep us on the edge of our seats and write in such complex and nuanced ways, you don’t know what could happen. Anything could happen and there’s so much potential.

Kristen Kringle has such a wide array of potential so there’s always that excitement of what’s happening this time and wanting to see how she develops. Her story being connected with Eddie Nygma’s is so wonderful and the fact that the writers have responded to the chemistry between Cory and I is wonderful.

I think the dark world of Gotham is something she feels and is starting to recognize that having somebody really care about you and persistently make effort to let you know they care, she finds that refreshing in this very dark world. There’s so much potential and such mystery and I’m excited to see how she develops and not worried about the future so much.

Because she works in the GCPD, and in the records room, I love that there’s so much potential for her to interact with almost anybody. Anybody looking for information. Information is power and so I’m excited for who it could be and who comes and bumps into our storyline as well. So I am excited that there’s so many possibilities

How have you done with the shippers so far? This isn’t a show with a ton of romantic relationships or subplots yet, so you guys are getting the lion’s share of that attention. Have you seen that?

Yes and it’s wonderful to see people responding and seeing how they feel hurt when Eddie Nygma feels hurt, and also feel confused because they can see how Kristen would feel frustrated at times but they feel so deeply for Nygma that they don’t want to see him hurt. I love it! I love the word “shipping,” too, and I’m excited to see fans following the story and connecting to it and following these ups and downs.