Talia Winters, Babylon 5

Talia Winters (Andrea Thompson)

Susan Ivanova’s relationship with Talia Winters was never explicitly shown on screen, but only implied. In interviews, the Babylon 5 creator Michael J. Straczynski and actors Claudia Christian and Andrea Thompson stated they always intended the relationship between the two characters to be romantic.

Thompson stated:

“Once I started thinking about it, the more I thought it could be really, really interesting if they actually explored it as though two women are in love, instead of doing it gratuitously… It doesn’t bother me at all and I would happily do a love story. Those relationships certainly should be recognized, and it’s ridiculous that we’re still dickering around with the issue” (Starlog, Dec 1994). “There was a sexual relationship between Talia and Commander Ivanova. It was edited so that it was not blatant. But that was exactly what happened. It had been talked about from the very beginning” (The Creating of Babylon 5).

While Susan Ivanova did not initially like Talia Winters, much of her dislike was due to the constant reminder of the Psi Corps and what they had done to her mother, Sofie Ivanov. Ivanova blamed Psi Corps for her mother’s suicide; her experience gave Talia her first opportunity to learn about the darker side of the Psi Corps. When she began helping telepaths on the underground railroad, Susan Ivanova began to develop a newfound respect for her, and shortly before Winters’ personality was wiped, it was implied to be a romantic relationship.

Before leaving Babylon 5, Control (Talia’s personality after memory wipe) taunted Ivanova, claiming to have influenced Talia to get close to Ivanova and her secrets. Ivanova later admitted she thought she had loved Talia.

After the memory wipe Talia became a new person and the Talia that had a relationship with Susan was killed in all but name.

Talia was involved in at least two romantic relationships with men during her years in the Psi Corps Academy. One was with Matthew Stoner, an advanced telepath who mentored her during her academic career. Winters and Stoner were quickly married after the Corps determined that the couple was likely to produce equally or more powerful telepathic offspring. Their union was annulled after Stoner left the Corps under mysterious circumstances; by this time Winters had learned for herself that they were not compatible. The other relationship was with Jason Ironheart, an instructor who later volunteered for genetic experimentation.

Appearances:

• 16 episodes. (credited for 44 episodes)

Female love interests:

• Susan Ivanova (Claudia Christian, regular)

Relationship story arc with a woman: Subtext

Male love interests:

• Matthew Stoner (Keith Szarabajka, guest, 1 episode, ex-husband)
• Jason Ironheart (William Allen Young, guest, 2 episodes)

Relationship story arc with a man: No

Filter Relationship Arc:

• None

Storyline during sweeps? No

[1] A relationship story arc is defined as explicit, developed on screen, and lasting more than 3 episodes. It is listed as questionable or subtext if romance is only implied, mentioned instead of shown on screen, part of a dream sequence, or otherwise not explicit for the viewer.
[2] Sweeps episodes air in February, May, July and November, the periods when advertising rates are set. A character is marked as "sweeps" when there is a very limited number of episodes that address their sexuality, all air during sweeps period, and the storyline is otherwise ignore/dropped.