Meagan Tandy, who plays Sophie Moore on Batwoman, told us what to expect from her romance with Kate Kane.
This articlecontains spoilers forBatwomanepisode 1.
We already know that on Batwoman, Kate Kane will go on dates, and in the series premiere we saw her rescue her former girlfriend – unfortunately not in a Wonder Woman costume. So who will all these dates be with, and is there any hope left for Kate “Candy” Kane and Sophie “Gimme” Moore? Den of Geek’s Bevin sat down with Meagan Tandy, who plays Sophie, to learn more about her character’s complicated history and possible future with our favorite heiress/vigilante.
Kate Kane’s comics fiancée, Maggie Sawyer, already appeared in the Arrowverse as Alex Danvers’s girlfriend and later fiancée. In what feels like a callback to the apparent DC decision that Kate Kane and Maggie Sawyer could never marry, Sanvers had to end due to constraints beyond the powers of the show, in one of the most crushingly beautiful on-screen breakups of all time.
Sophie is a foundational character to Kate Kane’s backstory, but Tandy gets to bring us a new twist on her. “Sophie, she is in the comics but she’s in there just very much in the beginning. It’s only in Kate’s portion when she’s training in the military school. So after military school they split up and then it’s like ‘what happened to Sophie?’ So the CW’s version of this storyline is going to be where I actually get to come on to this story for Kate and create a whole life for her.”
Ad – content continues below
Viewers might be wondering how Sophie identifies considering she both chose to renounce her relationship with Kate (which likely left Kate feeling hurt and even betrayed) and is now married to a man. If you ask Tandy whether her character is queer or perhaps closeted, she says, “I would love to be able to answer that but I cannot…you will just have to just keep watching this season because you may or may not get those answers.”
read more: Every DC Comics Easter Egg in Batwoman
It’s important to remember that bi, pan, and queer folks might have relationships that appear straight, but it doesn’t change who they are or how they identify. Even if Sophie is a lesbian who has, for some reason, chosen to marry a man, there can be all kinds of reasons for that, like safety or a partner who transitioned genders.
Moreover, as a woman of color and someone of significantly less means than Kate, Sophie’s character presents a distinct viewpoint. Coming out and being kicked out of the military academy might have had potentially far more dangerous and financially deleterious ramifications for her than it did for Kate. The comics explored these themes through Kate’s relationship with Gotham police officer Renee Montoya, a version of whom will be featured in the upcoming Birds of Prey movie.
Whatever the reason, Sophie is married. Well, at least for now. “I’ve been telling people she is married legally. Mentally and emotionally…I don’t know where she is. You just have to see.”
Way to keep leave us hanging, Meagan! Not only do we not know the answer, but we might never get it. Honestly though, it feels very realistic for Kate and, by extension, the viewer, to not know how Sophie identifies or where exactly she’s at regarding her feelings for Kate. People are complex and identity can evolve with time, so Sophie might not even know exactly what’s going on, or she might not be entirely comfortable sharing.To be clear, we aren’t entitled to those answers, and neither is Kate, even if we might want them.
To bring it back to the comics again, since it seems the writers are drawing on both the Sophie and Renee stories to bring their version of Sophie to life, Renee Montoya did a great job of calling Kate out for her relative privilege. Kate was frustrated by being with a woman who was closeted at work and in other aspects of her life. But Renee put it back on Kate who, as an exceedingly wealthy white woman, was insulated from many of the dangers of queerness that Renee faced daily while moving through the world as a queer woman of color in a male-dominated profession.
Ad
Ad – content continues below
read more: Batwoman Villain Explained – Who is Alice?
Unfortunately, that storyline ended with Renee never giving Kate the time of day again, albeit rightfully so. Hopefully Sophie and Kate will be able to have a more complex relationship where they work through some of these tough issues together, rather than Kate simply blowing up at Sophie. These questions of identity are complicated and leave open a lot of possibilities for their relationship and Batwoman as a show moving forward.
Read more about the Batwoman TV series here.
Delia Harrington is a freelance writer and photographer focused on politics, pop culture, and gender. She loves post-apocalyptic sci-fi, historical fiction, and feminist comic books.You can read all of her articles here and follow Delia on twitter @deliamary.
Ad
