In what will be a transformative run of episodes, Season 3 of Gotham brings major changes for basically every character on the show.
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A time jump of several months from the end of Season 2 will have Jim Gordon as a bounty hunter chasing monsters, Fish Mooney rising through the ranks of the underworld (again), and Bruce Wayne having moved on from looking for his parents’ killer to having a twin wandering around the city as well as spending more time with Selina to become more like Batman.
Perhaps no change has been more obvious than that of Barbara ‘Stabby Babs’ Kean. Erin Richards has seen her role evolve from a meek and somewhat vapid supporting character to one that has come into her own over the course of the last season as an interesting and scene-stealing character.
Thanks, in part to Sirens, the new club that serves as the hub of the Gotham underground, fans will see more of that side of her role early on. Richards told ComicBook.com during a recent set visit that her character is going to keep progressing with the current storyline.
“Barbara has more ownership of what she’s doing in Season 3,” Richards said. “Because of the club that we have, we’re much more integral to the running of Gotham City and its sort of underworld. So she’s kind of owning her space a bit more, which is fantastic.”
The thought of ‘owning her space’ is both a metaphysical and literal sense, and Richards said that walking onto the set of Sirens for the first time was an incredible experience and one that had a feel of ownership for Kean.
“It was brilliant,” Richard said. “I feel like Barbara had her apartment in the first series, but we kind of figured it wasn’t actually hers, it was probably handed down from her parents; it never really felt like home. Now we have this incredible club that we have made ourselves. It’s so fantastic. The set is incredible.”
As for her relationship with Tabitha, it has been a rollercoaster ride, of sorts.
Richards said that it was really nice to have a lot more time to figure out what that relationship is between the two leading ladies. However, that doesn’t mean it is going to be all happy lives for whips and knives.
“It’s a sort of mutual respect, and also sort of a slight battle for who is in power,” she said. “I think if you ask Barbara, she’d say she’s the head of the Sirens, but if you ask Tabitha the same thing, she’d say the same. So it’s good, this playful rivalry.”
The actress previously described Barbara and Tabitha as “the baddest bitches in town,” and that power struggle will see the pair butt heads more than once throughout the season, all while trying to keep their new operation running smoothly.
Gotham returns for Season 3 on September 19, 2016 at 8pm on FOX.
You can see an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the Sirens set in the gallery below.
