INTERVIEW: Rachel Skarsten on Season 2 of The CW’s ‘Batwoman,’ What’s Next for Alice, Telling Female-Led Stories, and Jaw-Dropping Moments

Rachel Skarsten shared what fans can expect from Alice in the new season of Batwoman, and it is definitely going to be a wild ride.

Batwoman season two is finally here, and fans are in for an exciting continuation of the series. Rachel portrays Alice, who will be dealing with the news of Kate Kane’s disappearance this season. We will also be introduced to Ryan Wilder (Javicia Leslie), who ends up discovering Kate’s Batsuit and will be tackling the hero role. New episodes air Sundays on The CW.

Glitter spoke exclusively with Rachel Skarsten and asked her all about the new season, Alice’s most powerful quality, strong female representation, and more.

GLITTER: Batwoman returned for season two on January 17, how would you describe the tone of this new season?
RACHEL: I’d say the tone of this new season in some ways is a little lighter and in other ways is a lot darker. Obviously, for Alice specifically, I think— if it’s even possible— it’s a bit darker because she’s lost kind of the Ying to her Yang and is navigating grief. However, in other ways, it’s also a little bit lighter because we are going to delve into a little bit more of Alice’s backstory and the time period in which she left Cartwright’s house to how she became the leader of the Wonderland gang and the Alice that you know and love today. In that time period, there is an incredible amount of lightness for Alice. So, yeah, it’s different and the same, I suppose.

GLITTER: Alice is going to be struggling with Kate Kane’s disappearance, what do you think the result of this will be for her and what will it teach her?
RACHEL: Well, I would say in a way, the first thing that comes to my mind is just living in a world without Kate, but of course, Alice has done that for a lot of her childhood. I definitely think Kate was in many ways the sun of Alice’s universe, and the loss of that sort of leaves Alice without any gravity and you will definitely see a bit of a tailspin. However, I also think that Alice is in, like a lot of people in this stage of grief, is in complete denial about the fact that Kate is actually dead and gone. And in true Alice form is also quite angry that she was not the one to kill her. However, in my opinion, I don’t think she ever would have actually killed her. So one of the things I really loved about Alice last season was the opportunity that I was given by the writers to really peel back the layers of the onion on this so-called villain and give the audience an opportunity to really have empathy for her. And, you know, I think no matter who you are, the emotion of grief, we’ve all been touched by it in some way. So I hope that people will continue to empathize with Alice, even though she does go a little off the deep end.

GLITTER: What do you think is Alice’s most powerful quality?
RACHEL: I think Alice’s most powerful quality is her determination. She is singularly determined. It makes her a force of nature, and actually, I really admire that quality. However, like most wonderful qualities taken to an extreme, it can also be a weakness. And I think that her determination also becomes her weakness because it blocks her from peace, love, and all of these things that Alice just so desperately needs, but in its purest form, I really admire how determined she is.

GLITTER: How would you describe the importance of strong female representation, especially when it comes to series leads? 
RACHEL: Oh my gosh, I think it’s so important, and I’m really proud to be on a show that not only has such a wonderful representation for women on screen because this show really does. I was so proud of what we did last year, having an out queer female lead, a Jewish lead character. Then this year, having a woman of color, a queer woman of color, it’s so wonderful, but then also behind the scenes, Caroline, who is our fearless leader, is also a queer woman; that’s just so awesome. I think for women on a whole, their stories have not been told; they act as satellites for their male counterparts, their lives only serve— in a lot of stories— to forward the story of the lead, which is typically a man. And I think that that’s really discounting how we, I believe, are worthy of having our stories told and more complex, interesting, intelligent, and imperfect, and all of those things are stories that I want to see. I’m really excited to be a part of the show that isn’t afraid to tell those stories.

GLITTER: What would you like to see more of when it comes to diversity in the entertainment industry? 
RACHEL: I think I would like to see it not— I would like us to get to the point where it’s not “Oh, okay, let’s make sure we have this much diversity in a show,” where it just is, you know? People are just cast because of their talent, because we want to tell this story because it is an accurate reflection of the world that we live in, not because we have to make a conscious effort to do it. I really want to see shows that are just telling stories because that’s life. I think a lot of the stories that we’ve told have been a reflection of one very specific point of view, and I just want to see that blown open, and all the stories to be told, and all the people be represented.

GLITTER: What would you say the biggest jaw-dropping moment of season one was for you and what sort of big moments can fans expect from season two?
RACHEL: Personally, the biggest jaw-dropping moment for me was when I opened the script and realized I was going to be playing two characters because I did not have a heads up about that. That was a jaw-dropper for me. I remember being like, “oh my gosh, what is happening?” It was such a unique challenge for me because I’d never done that before, and I was so afraid that people would not buy me as two characters, let alone in the same scene with each other. So that was quite jaw-dropping. The other really jaw-dropping moment for me was Alice killing Mouse. One, because I love Sam Littlefield so much, and I just wish I could work for him forever. He made every day at work so much fun, but also because he was, to me, Alice’s anchor, and without Mouse, I wasn’t sure what Alice’s story was going to be. So that was a pretty big moment for me. Then I think this season, the thing that will surprise audiences the most is that in Alice’s story, there will be love, and that’s all I can say about that, but I think that’s going to be really— you’re going to see a very different Alice.

GLITTER: Glitter has a celebrity #SelfLoveCampaign. What does self-love mean to you?
RACHEL: Self-love to me means catching myself when I’m internally saying negative things to myself. I think a certain amount of critical thinking of one’s self is great because you want to push yourself forward, and you want to be honest with yourself about the things that you’re not doing properly. But I think, especially for women, we’re so critical of ourselves. And do you ever— it’s actually so funny that you asked me this because just yesterday I was looking back on these photos in my iPhone, and I remember thinking a couple of years ago, I don’t want to post these photos on Instagram because I look terrible. That’s what I thought, and I didn’t post them on social media. And I was looking at them yesterday, and I thought, “what was I thinking? I looked amazing!” I was like, “can I post these now?” And it was just a real reminder for me to embrace where I’m at, to love the person that I am right now, even if it’s just for my future self, you know? Yeah, I think you really have to check your negative self-talk. That’s self-care for me.

GLITTER: Do you have any new projects coming up that you can discuss besides Batwoman?
RACHEL: I do not, actually. Well, COVID has presented an interesting challenge for all of us because we’re quarantined in Canada, and we’re actually quarantined to this project. So unless you did it before, you’re not doing it now. So, no, really, just Batwoman. It keeps me quite busy. I am a visual artist, though, and I’m releasing a new series of paintings in the spring. So that is what I love to do on the side.

GLITTER: What are the best social media platforms for fans to follow you on? 
RACHEL: The best social media platform for fans to follow me on is definitely Instagram. While I see the pitfalls of Instagram, I really do love it. I love beautiful photos. I love expressing myself on Instagram. I’ve been really fortunate to have such a beautiful community of positive, lovely people on that social media platform. I also have Twitter. However, I’m not very good with Twitter, I have to admit. But those are actually the only two social media sites that I have. My mom actually told me— this was maybe about a year ago— she was like, “Oh, I love what you posted on Facebook,” and I was like, “not me.”