Doom Patrol Season 3 casts Doctor Who's Michelle Gomez as supervillain Madame Rouge

Michelle Gomez of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Doctor Who fame is heading to Doom Patrol. Variety is reporting that the actor will join Season 3 of the show as Madame Rouge, a “complicated and electrifying eccentric who arrives at Doom Manor with a very specific mission, if only she could remember it.”

In the DC Comics, Madame Rouge made her first supervillainous appearance in a March 1964 issue of the eponymous comic. Before she became Madame Rouge, the character was a French actor named Laura De Mille. After an accident, however, De Mille developed a split personality, one of which was good and one of which was evil. De Mille’s evil side won out, and she became Madame Rouge, the only female member of the Brotherhood of Evil who fought against the world’s strangest group of heroes.

Gomez is no stranger to playing morally complex characters. Exhibit A: her portrayal of Missy in Doctor Who. Exhibit B: her role as Mary Wardwell, Sabrina’s teacher/demon from hell in Chilling Adventures. If her Madame Rouge also has dual personalities fighting for good and evil, there’s arguably not another actor out there better equipped to pull it off.

HBO Max renewed Doom Patrol for a third season in September after the previous season ended on a cliffhanger with (Spoiler!) most of our heroes trapped in wax prisons, not only because The Candlemaker but them there, but also because COVID-19 caused the offbeat show to shut down sooner than expected. What role Madame Rouge will play in the fates of the heroes remains to be seen.

In addition to Gomez, Doom Patrol stars Brendan Fraser (Cliff Steele/Robotman), Matt Bomer (Larry Trainor /Negative Man), Timothy Dalton (Niles Caulder/the Chief), Diane Guerrero (Jane/Crazy Jane), April Bowlby (Rita Farr/Elasti-Woman), and Joivan Wade (Victor Stone/Cyborg).

No news yet when Season 3 will air, though the show has been back in production as of January.