Previously unreleased concept art for The CW's Batwoman reveals that musician Gwen Stefani served as inspiration for the unhinged and vengeful villain Alice, otherwise known as Beth Kane, prodigal twin sister to the masked vigilante, Kate Kane.
A recent Instagram post shared by Batwoman concept artist Andy Poon reveals never-before-seen character designs of Alice from before Rachel Skarsten was cast in the role, with the former No Doubt frontwoman standing in. Poon shared three pieces of art that depict the character in a few different costume options, and says the idea came from costume designer Maya Mani, who thought Stefani "conveys the right tone and attitude for the character of Alice." The illustrations depict a clear likeness of Stefani with the '50s-inspired blonde curls pulled back with a scarf in what has become Alice's trademark baby blue coat.
While caption says Stefani was used as a base for creating the character designs prior to any casting decisions, the costume designs remained relatively consistent to what ended up on the screen. However, the pinup girl-esque hairstyle Stefani was famous for was ultimately swapped out in favor of Rachel Skarsten's more comic-book-accurate bob.
The Instagram caption also hints that there were a few other design explorations that portrayed the characters "more whimsical" and "sexier" side before the artists settled on the more severe and determined depictions shown in the post. However, Poon reassured his followers on social media that this isn't the last of the exclusives, indicating in the caption that he may release some alternate Alice mockups in the near future. He also made a separate throwback-post of an old drawing he and Mani created of two of Alice's henchmen, members of the Cheshire Gang, in full-fang combat gear.
Alice and her cronies became the terror of Gotham Batwoman season 1, and The CW plans to continue her arc into Season 2 which is set to premiere Jan. 17, despite the villain now set to battle an entirely different Batwoman in Javicia Leslie after Ruby Rose departed the show.
Batwoman stars Javicia Leslie, Rachel Skarsten, Meagan Tandy, Camrus Johnson, Dougray Scott and Nicole Kang. Season 2 premieres on Sunday, Jan. 17 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
Source: Instagram\andypoondesign