Broadway veteran Abigail Shapiro has joined her first TV series, DC Universe’s ‘Doom Patrol’. She will portray The Chief’s daughter, Dorothy Spinner. Though Shapiro is 19, her character is expected to be 11 years old. The character was glimpsed briefly from behind at the end of the Season 1 finale.
This is the description of Dorothy:
“Niles loves her very much and has gone through great sacrifice to protect her, and the world, from her special abilities. Now that she is no longer hidden, Niles will go to even greater lengths to protect her.”
And just what are those abilities? In the comics, at least, she can bring imaginary characters to life. However, these are not her servants and some of them don’t even like her. In fact, some are fully evil.
She was also born with physical deformities that make her look like an ape in the face, and she has hairy arms. Her name is a play on the ‘Wizard of Oz’ character, Dorothy Gale, who was carried away by a “spinning” tornado.
RELATED: ‘Doom Patrol’ Season 2 Stays on DC Universe, Coming to HBO Max
Last July, series creator Jeremy Carver stated:
“We’ve introduced something of a major new character with the Chief’s daughter, and we have still simmering resentments between the team and the Chief that will have to be resolved one way or another. We have over 60 years of current and Silver Age and Bronze Age Doom Patrol comics, which really have been a lifesaver and an absolute repository of some of the most wonderfully bizarre and crazy ideas, but also beautiful character moments and depictions. We went full steam into season 1 with a ‘smoke ‘em if you got ‘em’ attitude, and we intend to fully continue that in any potential season 2 to come. There’s a lot more where that came from.”
At the age of 12, Shapiro landed the role of Cindy Lou Who in ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas: The Musical’ at Madison Square Garden. At 14, she won the leading role in ‘Liberty: A Monumental New Musical’, a role meant for an adult, but the part was rewritten for her.
She joins the existing cast of Matt Bomer (voice) and Matthew Zuk (physical) as Larry Trainor/Negative Man, April Bowlby as Rita Farr/Elasti-Woman, Timothy Dalton as mastermind Niles Caulder/The Chief, Brendan Fraser (voice) and Riley Shanahan (physical) as Cliff Steele/Robot Man, Diane Guerrero as Crazy Jane, and Joivan Wade as Victor Stone/Cyborg.
The first season consisted of 15 episodes. It hasn’t been officially stated, but presumably the second will as well. The first was available exclusively on DC Universe, but Season 2 will be released simultaneously on DC Universe and HBO Max. The first season will also be available to stream on HBO Max when it launches.
The second season began filming in November. It is expected to arrive some time this year.
Source: TV Line
