Arrow Will Bring the Other al Ghul Sister to the Screen

What, you didn’t know Talia al Ghul had a sister? Did you think that in all his long years, Ra’s al Ghul only sired one offspring?

I mean there was that one guy in the old west from the Jonah Hex episode of Batman: The Animated Series that I just tried to quote from.

TV Guide is reporting that Katrina Law (Mira on Spartacus), is on board to play Nyssa al Ghul, the (much) older half-sister of the more well-known Talia. Nyssa Raatko was created by Greg Rucka for the miniseries Batman: Death and the Maidens, a daughter conceived while Ra’s visited Russia in the 1800s. Nyssa grew up on her mother’s romanticized tales of the Demon’s Head, and in adulthood distinguished herself to Ra’s with her intelligence, her fighting skills, and by tracking down the elusive ecoterrorist to his base in North Africa. He installs her as his second in command and allows her to use his Lazarus pits, until she became disillusioned with his mission of human genocide. Ra’s let her go, and even gave her a Lazarus pit in Europe, expecting her to eventually return to the fold. When it became clear that she would not submit to him, nor would she let any of her descendants, he disowned her, refusing to save her and her family from German concentration camps in World War II, the beginning of Nyssa’s true hatred of her father.

Nazi doctors noticed that Nyssa’s physiology, altered by the Lazarus pits, was different, and she was subjected to experiments that rendered her infertile. It wasn’t until her last descendant died without heirs that Nyssa finally puts a plot to kill him into action, that involves turning Talia against him. She succeeds, but it is revealed that her eventual betrayal was predicted and desired by Ra’s, as it lead to both of his beloved daughters realizing that his goals were theirs. Death and the Maidens ends with Nyssa and Talia gaining joint rule over the League of Assassins and Ra’s goals of wiping out the majority of the world’s population.

TV guide thinks that most of this backstory will likely not be immediately attached to Nyssa: she will appear as a member of the League of Assassins, come to Starling City to fight Black Canary. In DatM, Nyssa’s plans do involve assassinating Superman, so it’s not too far out of the blue. That’s one more lady on the cast of Arrow, one more Batman villain, and one more hint at Ra’s al Ghul.

(via Superhero Hype.)