Despite being part of the Gotham cast since the very first episode, Selina Kyle’s character progression has been a slow-burner. A stereotypical street kid, Kyle has flitted in and out of criminal gangs throughout the show’s three seasons and visibly has trust issues - refusing to form relationships with others or stay in one place too long. More recent episodes have shown a softening in Selina’s nature however, and her friendships with Ivy Pepper and Bridgit Pike have come to the fore, showing a different side to the youngster.
The most notable relationship Selina has formed, however, is undoubtedly her sort-of romance with young Bruce Wayne. After spending most of the show casually walking through Bruce’s living room window whenever she pleased, the two teens grew closer, slowly becoming friends, then more-than friends - a prospect the young lady clearly struggled with. In Gotham’s last episode, ‘Smile Like You Mean It’, it was revealed that Kyle’s recently-returned mother had only come back into her daughter’s life to exploit her friendship with Bruce for cash and predictably, this was not received well by the future Catwoman.
Now the actress behind Selina Kyle, Camren Bicondova, has been speaking to ComicBook about what the future may hold for her character in the wake of these revelations and it’s not looking good for Bru-lina. Asked which direction her character will go next, Camren remarks:
“I think she’ll be leaning more towards the ‘evil.’ Everybody says that Catwoman is an anti-hero and the definition of an anti-hero is a hero that does bad things to do good; really that’s just a normal human being! So for me, I don’t see her as a hero or a villain either way. I see her as a human being who has to do things to stay alive. She’s a teenager in the anarchy of Gotham! So I think to give you an answer that you want, she’s leaning more toward the evil side, but to answer my way, she’s just going with the flow."
While Selina is unlikely to ever hit the same levels of wrong-doing as the likes of Jerome Valeska and Jervis Tetch, she has been known to affiliate with criminals such as Fish Mooney, The Penguin and Barbara Kean and it’s perhaps unsurprising that - given the current trauma she’s experiencing - Selina would go back to the life she knows best, rejecting the new bonds she had begun to build. As for her relationship with Bruce, Camren left the door very much open for a reconciliation, claiming that her character merely felt “weird” about the recent events.
With its third season, Gotham has been increasing the presence of recognizable villains from the Batman universe in the show. Edward Nygma is finally getting his Riddler costume, Jerome looks increasingly like he’s the actual Joker and Harley Quinn will reportedly make an appearance before the season is over. As such, it’s possible that Selina Kyle’s impending return to villainy could spark a full-on Catwoman transformation. The character has yet to fully embrace her widely-known feline persona but surely if anything would cause such a change, being lied to by both your mother and boyfriend would do the trick.
Given that Gotham’s interpretation of Selina Kyle has been one of the more sympathetic versions of the character, it’s also possible that the show won’t want to push one of its younger figures into full-time evil-doing. Indeed, viewers may simply see the return of the typical Selina cycle of being mad at Bruce for a bit before grudgingly making amends a few episodes later. If this were the case, Gotham’s audience may begin to lose interest in Selina’s character arc however, as this cycle has been in action since the young thief first appeared on the show and has arguably worn somewhat thin.
Gotham continues on January 30th with ‘The Gentle Art of Making Enemies’ on Fox.
Source: ComicBook
