Sophie & Kate's 'Batwoman' Relationship May Be Even More Complicated Than In The Comics

In superhero stories, it's pretty much a given that the hero will have a love interest who they'll need to save from peril time and time again. However, Batwoman's Sophie Moore, played by Meagan Tandy, is more than capable of getting out of sticky situations on her own — although being aligned and romantically entangled with Kate Kane, the Batwoman herself, certainly can't hurt. In both the comics and the new CW show, Sophie is Batwoman's ex-girlfriend, but their relationship onscreen is more complicated than it was in the original story.

The comics only touched briefly on Sophie and Kate's relationship, mostly in flashbacks, which leaves a lot of room for Batwoman to create new arcs. The biggest change to Sophie's character is that in the comics, she was noble and committed to military causes, but in the show seems to be more self-interested.

Kate Kane and Sophie Moore both attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, where they became roommates and eventually girlfriends. However, after Kate was asked to leave due to a Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, Sophie stayed and kept her sexuality a secret. She later became a teacher at a military college near Gotham, but didn't get back in touch with Kate after moving to the area.

The two share a similar backstory in the CW's Batwoman, but Sophie will be playing a much larger role in Kate's life. Deadline describes Batwoman's version of Sophie as "a high-level private security agent and one of Gotham’s staunchest protectors." The private security firm that Sophie works for is called The Crows, an allusion to the Murder of Crows gang from the Batwoman comics that provide much of the titular superhero's training. While Sophie and Kate share a romantic past, the Crows connection suggests that Sophie will be assisting Kate in her training as she continues to grow and develop as Batwoman.

With only a few broad strokes illuminating the character in the comics, the CW's Batwoman can take Sophie's role in just about any direction. Fellow CW superhero series Arrow turned minor comics character Felicity Smoak into a crucial part of the show, and it seems like Batwoman is angling to do the same with Sophie. Will she remain a Crow and be the Commissioner Gordon-type figure to Batman's successor? Will she leave the Crows and work full-time for her ex-girlfriend? Will she turn against her ex-girlfriend, or perhaps go full-on super villain? The door is wide open.

As for Tandy, playing Sophie is one of her biggest roles yet, but she's been acting for many years. The former Miss California USA appeared on multiple episodes of UnREAL, Teen Wolf, and Survivor's Remorse before arriving in Gotham. And while Tandy was getting semi-regular work, Batwoman came at a time when she was starting to feel defeated by the entertainment industry. "One day you're working, next day you're not. You get the callback, you're 'pinned,' but 'they went in another direction,'" Tandy wrote of the show on Instagram. "I actually got to be 'just right' for this one."

The character of Sophie means a lot to Kate Kane, but she seems to mean even more to Tandy.