NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 23: Erin Richards and Jessica Lucas attend the Tribeca TV Festival sneak peek of Gotham at Cinepolis Chelsea on September 23, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images for Tribeca TV Festival)

Erin Richards and Jessica Lucas see Gotham as a journey, living dream and extension of family at the Tribeca TV Festival.

It’s about the challenge as an actor of not playing the same thing over and over again. Gotham has delivered on the promise of character progression in spades for Erin Richards (Barbara Kean) and Jessica Lucas (Tabitha Galavan), constantly evolving characters from one season to the next. A priceless dream to make a storied fictional character your own. An original spin on it.

The opportunity to place your name on the mantle of Batman canon history and lore, enjoyed by generation to generation as the modern day bedtime story that is television’s Gotham

We talked to Erin Richards and Jessica Lucas about their rewarding experiences on Gotham at the Tribeca TV Festival.

Jessica Lucas interview at Tribeca TV Festival

FanSided.com – Nir Regev: Hey Jessica, it’s a pleasure. You started as a child actress originally and you were in Cinderella and many things in Vancouver. I was wondering now that you’re on Gotham, it’s a darker kind of role. How does it feel to go from this kind of innocent child actress to Gotham?

Jessica Lucas: It feels good, I don’t know that I correlate it to being from child to adult. It’s just always awesome to play a variety of different characters and challenge yourself as an actor. Getting to play a villain felt like something that I couldn’t pass up. I’ve been such a big fan of Batman for so long, the idea that I could be part of that canon was a dream come true.

FS: What drew you to Batman originally in your youth?

Lucas: I just remembered always being on (watching) the original television show when I was at daycare or my parent’s house, so it’s very familiar. I was a huge fan of the Christopher Nolan movies, huge fan of the Joel Schumacher/Tim Burton movies.

I think I was at the right age to really like that Joel Schumacher campy, kind of wild version that I loved. Then, when Christopher Nolan came out with the darker, more realistic version, I loved that as well. I’ve kind of grown up with it as the different iterations have come out.

FS: Do you feel kind of heavy demands and expectations, having to play up to this role that has so much fan storied history and such?

Lucas: I do and I don’t. I feel lucky to play a character that maybe people don’t know so well, so I can do my own take and spin on it. Also, I find that people have been incredibly supportive! The fans of this show seem to just really love everything we do. They’re so supportive, so that’s been wonderful. I’ve had no negative experience with that.

FS: Do you read a lot of comments online and that kind of thing?

Lucas: I don’t, you know I’m on Twitter and sometimes you’ll get stuff coming in. But mostly, I just try and not pay attention and focus on the process on making this film or rather this television show that I love. I know because we’re pouring our hearts and souls into it (Gotham), it’s going to be great!

FS: Speaking of film, do you see yourself doing a lot more film off the set of Gotham?

Lucas: Maybe! I mean I think the industry is definitely offering a lot in the television side of things lately. I love the family aspect of being a television show, I like the long shoot. I like shooting something for nine months at a time. I just want to work on great projects.

FS: Is it like a family to work on something for so long?

Lucas: I mean absolutely, I’ve been on the show three years. Everyone else is on their fourth year. So yeah, you get to know these people intimately. You go through so many different things and events together. You see each other all the time, it’s wonderful.

FS: Do you miss out on in-jokes since you weren’t there on the first year, only three?

Lucas: *Laughs*. Maybe a few! But mostly no, everyone has been very welcoming. When I came in I was super nervous because they’d already been on for a year but everyone welcomed me with open arms. And I made some really, really great friends.

FS: Awesome! Thanks a lot.

Lucas: Thank you!

Erin Richards Interview at Tribeca TV Festival

FanSided.com – Nir Regev: Hey Erin, you went from Breaking In to Gotham! How does it feel and what does it mean to you to go from a comedy to such a serious, darker role?

Erin Richards: Yeah, I really enjoy actually that switch. I think as an actor you look for the most amount of variation that you can in your career. Because obviously, we don’t want to just play one thing forever as that would probably be a bit boring. So even within Gotham, I’ve had the amazing luxury of being able to actually play quite a different, emerging, like developing character throughout the seasons.

So I feel I’ve sort of played a slightly different version of her for every season. So that’s like four years of different characters. I’m always so grateful for that and any kind of art and journey that I get given. Because it keeps everything exciting, different, and fun!

FS: Thank you very much!

Richards: Thank you!

Catch Jessica Lucas and Erin Richards on Gotham every upcoming Thursday on Fox at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 Central. Watch the digital video stream at this Fox Gotham link.

Read our Tribeca TV Interview interview with James Gordon himself, Ben McKenzie.