Tabitha’s really kicking butt this season. How do you feel about that?
Jessica Lucas: “I love it! I love how strong she is. I love her physicality. I love her independence. She’s also really irreverent, which I love. I think I can learn a lot from her in my life.”
What would you take from her?
Jessica Lucas: “Just the fact that she just doesn’t give an ‘f’ about anything. I admire that quality.”
It must be very freeing to get to set and just be able to toss away your real-life problems as you take on Tabitha.
Jessica Lucas: “Yes. And anything that you’re holding throughout the day that you might be angry about, you can just let it out. It’s great.”
And, she has a love story going on this season.
Jessica Lucas: “A triangle-type thing going on. As much as she can be in love, I think that she struggles with that because the family she grew up in – the Galavans – are quite a twisted family. So, I don’t think she understands love very well. She’s very emotionally detached and so I think the feelings that she has for Barbara are more surprising to her than anything else, and she’s struggling with that. She loves loyalty more than anything and she has this character in Butch who’s super, super loyal to her. And so I think that’s what will win out in the end is that loyalty.”
She’s also willing to sacrifice.
Jessica Lucas: “Yeah. I think that has a lot to do with how she grew up, her training, and her family. It was about protecting and being loyal to whoever it is that you’re in love with. For her family, that’s how they trained her and so because Butch is so loyal to her, she had no problem sacrificing herself for him in that scenario.”
The evolution of the character is great because she’s gone from being a henchwoman into being her own stand-alone person.
Jessica Lucas: “Yes. I think she’s still very much in that arc but things come up in this latter half of the season that are reminiscent of her relationship with her brother last season that will infuriate her and make her very upset. She wants revenge on Nygma and out of respect to Barbara she’s not going to do it. But I think she wishes that Barbara would let her kill Nygma and she won’t, so that’s going to be a huge level of tension between them as the season goes on.”
How much of the layers you’re getting to play this season did you know would be there for Tabitha?
Jessica Lucas: “I had no clue. You just don’t on these shows. I mean, sometimes you get a chance to sit down with the producer but things change so frequently. They might tell you something one week and it’s gone or it’s something new. I just try not to ask, honestly, because if you get married to an idea that changes you can be disappointed. I just go with the flow. As every script comes in, I just take it as it comes.”
Is there a direction you personally would like Tabitha to go at this point?
Jessica Lucas: “Well, I think we’re ramping up into that alliance between Tabitha and Selina and I’ve been waiting for that to happen since I signed onto the show. I’m really excited to see how that will change. For her to take somebody under her wing seems like something really different for her, and I don’t know how she’ll handle that. It comes back to that thing where she struggles with caring or showing love or affection in any way. It’ll be interesting to see what her dynamic with Selina will be.”
Can she be nurturing?
Jessica Lucas: “I don’t know. Yeah, that’s the question. I think that will be interesting to explore next season.”
What aspects in Tabitha’s evolution from last season and being the protector of her brother to this season do you really enjoy?
Jessica Lucas: “I guess that she’s finding her ground more. She’s finding more of her independence. I think that she can stand on her own two feet quite easily but for some reason doesn’t have the power to do so. She’s smart enough to understand that alliances are important in Gotham. I don’t know. That evolution’s been interesting. I don’t know where they’re going to go with it. More independence would be nice. I would love to see her just stand up for herself more and do the things that she wants to do without having to ask or check with whoever she’s working with.”
Is there anyone we can expect to see her interact with that we wouldn’t necessarily assume she’d be meeting up with?
Jessica Lucas: “Yes! There is one character she interacts with in a few episodes that’s unexpected. Someone that she has not had a scene with yet at all…but that’s all I can say. I can’t explain why they come together.”
Have they said anything about season four?
Jessica Lucas: “No. Not besides the things that I know that are spoilers, things that happen at the end of the season that will be huge arcs into the next season.”
If you could sum up these upcoming last episodes of Gotham season three, how would you describe them?
Jessica Lucas: “Just chaotic. Chaotic, yeah. I think there’s a lot of things happening. There’s sort of a big overarching story that happens in the last three episodes that brings almost every character together in an unexpected way. We’re all trying to stop a common evil. I can say that much.”
