Gotham: What's Going to Change for Poison Ivy?

[Warning: The following contains spoilers from Monday's Season 3 premiere of Gotham. Read at your own risk!]

Earlier this summer, Gotham made headlines when it it was announced that Maggie Geha would be taking over the role of Ivy from Clare Foley in order for the show to capitalize on the villainess' seductive prowess by aging her up.

Monday's season premiere showed exactly how and why that aging occurred, and it makes total sense within the story. Gotham is back and your favorite villains are ready to rule the season, except for poor Ivy. At the end of the episode, young Ivy came into contact with Fish Mooney's (Jada Pinkett Smith) Indian Hill goon who can rapidly age anyone he touches until they die. Ivy was only touched for a few seconds before falling into a sewer pipe, presumed by Selina (Camren Bicondova) to be dead.

However, it won't be a purely physical transformation for Ivy going forward. "Hand in hand with the physical transformation comes a real emotional character transformation, so that the Ivy we're going to spend time with in Season 3 is much different, executive producer Ken Woodruff tells TVGuide.com "It's still the same person in there but there's a whole different edge to the character. This character is willing to do things that the previous Ivy wasn't."

Gotham: Bruce's new "playboy" personality isn't what you think

The younger Ivy isn't completely gone though. Geha explains that even though Ivy looks different, her younger self is still a conscious part of her. "I think that little Ivy is sort of relishing in the physical transformation and realizing all the power that she now has with this change, and what she can do to people," she says. "She's definitely transforming into a darker version of herself."

That darker version of herself will lead to a version of Ivy that more clearly correlates to the comic book villain that fans are familiar with, which is what inspired the Gotham writers to make the character change in the first place.

"Poison Ivy traditionally in the canon in the comics, one of her big powers is the power of seduction. A lot of times she'll do that with pheromones or she'll use chemicals derived from plants. It was one of the things on en emotional level we really liked for that villain to have," Woodruff says. "We weren't able to do that with someone who was 15 years old. We didn't have the same abilities that the Poison Ivy from the comics had. That was the decision behind changing the character."

Gotham Mega Buzz: Will Bruce and Selina finally hook up?

A darker Ivy that's embracing her new powers will definitely be a sight to behold -- but who should be the most afraid of the new villain in town? The answer might surprise you.

"Ivy perceives that Selina betrayed her and didn't protect her," Geha teases. "Ivy blames Selina, even though she does see her transformation as a good thing."

How will the confrontation go down? Gotham continues Mondays at 8/7c on Fox.