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Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Teen Wolf alum Meagan Tandy said she was excited to join the cast of Batwoman because it is largely written by women and focuses on fascinating female characters. "It's so much more than just another TV show," Tandy told reporters at New York Comic Con on Sunday, hours before the series premiered.
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"We are representing so many women out there," she added. "We've got so many strong women on this show and they are all very capable. It's been nothing short of a blessing to be a part of something like this."
The live-action show is the first DC Comics adaptation to spotlight a lesbian superhero and feature an openly gay actress -- Ruby Rose -- as the main character.
Street fighter Kate Kane, Bruce Wayne's cousin, adopts the name of Batwoman to defend Gotham City from crime three years after Batman disappears.
Spoilers ahead.
Tandy plays private security agent Sophie, Kate's ex-girlfriend, while Lost Girl star Rachel Skarsten plays Alice, the gang leader who abducts Sophie and forces a confrontation with Kate.
Alice is also Kate's twin sister, who was presumed dead in car crash as a child.
"Sophie is actually the reason why Kate came back to Gotham -- because she has been kidnapped," Tandy said, explaining the young women were forced to break up years earlier because their military school forbade same-sex relationships.
"They didn't want to see two women having a relationship," the actress said. "They put us in a position where it was like, 'OK, you have to choose.'"
Their reunion will, not surprisingly, be complicated with a lot of "ups and downs."
Tandy defended the show's portrayal of its characters from critics who claim its diversity is part of an agenda.
"If it's pushing any kind of an agenda at all, it's pushing empathy. It's pushing understanding and, to me, that's not an agenda. That's what this world should have, anyway, and the fact that we get to do that and I get to be a part of that message is, honestly, really, really awesome," she said. "I hope one day people can see something like this and it will just be completely normal."
After all, people don't spend much time talking about Batman's heterosexuality, she pointed out.
Batwoman is a homecoming of sorts for Skarsten, who starred in Birds of Prey, a 2002-03 show based on another DC Comics property.
"It was a female-led cast, three very strong women and the three of us joke to this day that had that show premiered now, it would probably be on the air seven years," Skarsten said in a separate interview.
She went on to say that having powerful women in the entertainment industry and telling stories about women means men should be excluded.
"It's really wonderful to have a place for everyone and I think we can all play into each other's strengths," she said. "It's nice to see there are more really strong women doing their thing and I hope Batwoman will be a small part -- or maybe a large part -- in ushering in a new era of strong females."
Tremendous care went into Skarsten's portrayal of the villain Alice.
"You can go too far with crazy. It has to be nuanced," she said. "What is unnerving and unhinging for us as human beings? For me, it's when someone seems very normal and, on a dime, can switch. So, I tried to do that with Alice."
Alice's relationship with her twin sister has been interesting to explore and develop.
"You are taking two females who are evenly matched in ever way -- in their physicality, in their intelligence and all these things and now they are foes... but they can't really destroy one another because they are family and they love each other and they have this incredible bond that they've had from pre-birth to the age of 13," she said. "It's been very fun."
