If you’ve spent any time wandering through the rain-soaked, neon-lit alleys of Fox's Gotham, you know that the show wasn't just about Jim Gordon’s mustache or Penguin’s waddle. It was about the slow, agonizing, and often brilliant transformation of a city. At the heart of that chaos was a young girl with messy hair and a leather jacket who could scale a fire escape faster than most people can find their car keys.
But who plays Selina in Gotham?
For the vast majority of the show’s five-season run, the role belonged to Camren Bicondova.
She didn't just play a "young Catwoman." Honestly, that label is kinda reductive. She played a kid named Selina Kyle who was trying not to starve in a city that wanted to swallow her whole. However, if you watched the very last episode, you might have noticed a sudden, jarring change in the mirror. For the series finale, the role was handed over to Lili Simmons.
It’s a weird bit of TV history, and the reasons behind it are actually pretty fascinating once you dig into the "why" of it all.
The Camren Bicondova Years: Finding the Feline
When Gotham premiered in 2014, the casting of Selina Kyle was critical. You couldn't just have a kid who looked like she stepped out of a Disney sitcom. You needed someone who felt "street."
Camren Bicondova was 14 years old when she landed the part. Interestingly, she didn't even know she was auditioning for the future Catwoman at first. The casting notes were for a character named "Lucy," described as a 14-year-old street thief who was "fierce when cornered" and skilled at "cat-like movements."
Bicondova’s secret weapon? She was a professional dancer.
Before the show, she was part of the dance crew 8 Flavahz, which came in second on America’s Best Dance Crew. That physicality is exactly why her version of Selina worked so well. She didn't need wires to look agile; she just was.
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What most people get wrong about her performance
A lot of fans initially compared her to Michelle Pfeiffer. The resemblance is uncanny—the curly hair, the wide eyes, the pout. But Camren really made the role her own by leaning into Selina’s vulnerability.
She wasn't a villain. She was a survivor.
Throughout the series, we saw her go from a pickpocket witnessing the Wayne murders to a reluctant mentor for Bruce. The dynamic between her and David Mazouz (who played Bruce Wayne) became the emotional backbone of the show. It was messy. They fought. They stole things together. They grew up.
The Shocking Recast in the Series Finale
So, if Camren Bicondova was so good, why did she disappear for the final episode?
Basically, it came down to a 10-year time jump.
The series finale, titled "The Beginning...", takes place a decade after the events of the penultimate episode. While the showrunners used makeup and prosthetics to age up actors like Ben McKenzie (Gordon) and Robin Lord Taylor (Penguin), Bicondova felt differently about her own character's transition.
She made the choice to step down.
In a heartfelt post on social media back in 2019, she explained that she didn't feel comfortable or "right" playing the 20-something, fully realized version of Catwoman. She felt she had been the vessel for Selina’s formative teen years, and that it was time to "pass the torch" to an adult actress.
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Enter Lili Simmons
The "eighth woman" to join the Catwoman legacy was Lili Simmons. You might recognize her from Banshee or The Purge.
Casting Simmons was a stroke of luck for the production. Not only does she have a similar facial structure to Camren, but she also managed to capture the specific "vibe" that had been established over five years.
Camren and Lili actually met up before filming. They spent hours talking about Selina’s backstory, sharing journal entries Camren had written about the character, and discussing what Selina would have been doing during those ten years in the shadows.
It was a rare moment of professional grace in Hollywood. Instead of a messy "creative differences" exit, it was a planned baton-pass that respected the character's journey.
Why the Selina Kyle of Gotham Matters
Looking back, Gotham gave us the most in-depth look at Selina Kyle’s psychology we’ve ever seen on screen.
Movies only give us a two-hour window. Gotham gave us 100 episodes.
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We saw her mother, Maria Kyle (played by Ivana Milicevic), come back only to betray her. We saw her relationship with Ivy Pepper (Poison Ivy) crumble as they both chose different paths of villainy. We saw her literally die and be "brought back" by cats—a classic nod to the 1992 Batman Returns lore.
A quick breakdown of the "Cat" lineage in the show:
- Seasons 1–5 (Teenage Selina): Played by Camren Bicondova. She appeared in 76 episodes.
- Series Finale (Adult Selina): Played by Lili Simmons.
- Stunt Work: While Camren did a lot of her own movement, the heavy acrobatics were often handled by her stunt doubles to keep things safe on the New York sets.
What you can do now as a fan
If you're just finishing a rewatch or diving into the series for the first time, there are a couple of ways to see more of these actresses.
Check out Camren Bicondova’s dance videos on YouTube. Watching her move in a studio really highlights how she brought that fluidity to Selina’s rooftop chases. It makes the performance even more impressive when you realize she wasn't just "acting" agile; she was using a decade of dance training.
If you liked the edge Lili Simmons brought to the finale, her work in Banshee is a must-watch. It’s much grittier than Gotham, but it shows off her range.
Honestly, both actresses deserve credit for making the "Cat" one of the most compelling parts of the show. They took a character often reduced to a love interest and turned her into the heart of a broken city.
Start by re-watching the Season 4 finale "A Dark Knight: No Man's Land" and then jump straight to the series finale. It really highlights the contrast between the girl Selina was and the woman she eventually had to become.