It’s been a busy weekend for comic book geeks. New York Comic Con kicked off last Thursday and brought with it dozens of announcements and teasers. Gotham was one of many shows that riled fans at their exclusive NYCC panel, and its cast members definitely didn’t leave their audience hanging. The show’s stars talked Season 2, character transformations, and even questioned whether Barbara really did kill her parents last season.
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Erin Richards, the actress who plays Barbara, joined the Gotham panel to thunderous applause. The whacked-out villain took time to talk about Barbara’s future with Tabitha and the Sirens, but she also teased fans about one of the character’s shocking deeds by questioning whether Barbara really did kill her parents.
During the panel, Richards was asked about a popular fan theory that alleges Barbara’s innocence. Rather than having killed her parents, fans believe the character went crazy instead and prompted her captor The Ogre to off Barbara’s mom and dad. Richards commented on the theory, saying, “We never saw that [the deaths] on scene.”
“If we are happening to hope for a rekindling between Jim and Barbara then maybe that is an interesting twist,” she said. Richards continued, wondering aloud whether Barbara simply went “crazy and beat people up.”
The actress finished her thoughts by saying, “Maybe that killing was something else.” As for what that ‘something else’ might be, fans can’t be sure.
If you don’t remember what all led to the supposed death of Barbara’s parents, the sequence of events are fairly complex. The murders went down last season after a fragile Barbara was kidnapped by a serial killer known as The Ogre. The brute brought Barbara to her parents, telling her to choose who’s life will be taken: hers or theirs. Barbara, who resented her parents, apparently chose to kill her parents as she confesses to Dr. Leslie Thompkins that she chose to kill her parents outside of the Ogre’s doing. The admission came shortly before Barbara tried to kill the doctor herself with a knife and was taken down none too gently.
If Barbara really did kill her parents, it wouldn’t be completely unbelievable. The character felt tense around her mother and father after moving back in with them, and Barbara’s mental state plummeted during Season 1 of Gotham. The former addict was thrust into a very unstable world of crime because of her relationship with Jim Gordon, a reality that ultimately put her in contact with The Ogre.
There are plenty of fans who are unhappy with Barbara’s violent characterization. After all, the Batman canon often finds Barbara married to Jim Gordon in the comics and even has children with him before they eventually divorce. Gotham seems like it is doing its best to revise the character’s origin, leaving fans to wonder how Barbara will return to Jim’s good graces if at all.
And, what’s more, plenty of fans have signaled their displeasure with Barbara’s sudden psychotic nature. For them, ‘Stabby Babs’ doesn’t equate to interesting or even logical character development.
However, Richards seems confident in Barbara’s future. The actress described her role as that of a “modern women” who now fronts a seedy bar called Sirens in Gotham. Season 2 will follow Barbara and her partner Tabitha as they make a name for themselves amongst the city’s criminal underbelly and transform ‘Stabby Babs’ into a genuine threat.
Gotham airs on Mondays 8:00-9:01 PM ET/PT) on FOX.
