Batwoman Star Rachel Skarsten Teases Her Villain's Real Motivation

Batwoman is coming to The CW this fall with Ruby Rose's caped hero stepping up to protect Gotham in the absence of Batman. Thanks to the first trailer for the series as revealed at the networks upfronts earlier this month, fans got a look at one of the major foes that Batwoman will encounter in her heroic efforts -- the terrifying Red Alice. However, while Alice is sure to give Batwoman a run for her money, according to Rachel Skarsten, Batwoman isn't exactly the only person Alice has an issue with.

Speaking to TVLine, Skarsten explained that Alice has a complex relationship with Batwoman but has an "axe to grind" with someone else.

"She is the big bad of the show, she plays the main antagonist," Skarsten said. "She has a very complex relationship with Batwoman, played by Ruby Rose, and she sort of teeters between sane and completely insane -- which is really fun."

On Batwoman, the Alice in Wonderland gang targets Kate Kane's father as well as his security firm, Crows Private Security. While this act will bring Batwoman and Red Alice into conflict with one another, there's a more personal stake in the gang's activity.

"I think at this point she has an axe to grind with another character on the show who I can't say, but it will be revealed," Skarsten continued. "She has this sort of personal vendetta against that character, and then of course she also wants to just run Gotham and bring mayhem wherever she goes."

That personal vendetta may well end up being against Kate's father, Colonel Jacob Kane. In comics, Alice was ultimately revealed to be Kate's twin sister Beth whom had long been believed to be dead, killed in the attack that Kate survived. In the comics, Kate and Beth's mother took the girls out for a twelfth birthday feast of chocolates and waffles at an expensive restaurant. Unfortunately, they were kidnapped on the way with Kate's mother murdered and Beth caught in the crossfire. Turns out that Beth didn't die, but unfortunately went insane and ended up joining Religion of Crime. She ends up kidnapping Colonel Kane in an attempt to acquire a toxic gas.

As the television series will no doubt make some changes as it translates the characters from page to screen, it's unknown if Batwoman's Alice will even end up being Kate's long lost sister, but if so, it will make for a complex and dramatic conflict between the series' hero and its central villain.

Batwoman will debut this fall on The CW.