DC’s ‘Batwoman’ Will Pass the Torch to Javicia Leslie, the First Black Batwoman on Screen
The DC Universe on CW has found its new Batwoman.
After Ruby Rose’s announcement leaving the role in May, many questions were brought up from DC fans. After one season, Rose made the “very difficult decision to not return to Batwoman next season. This was not a decision I made lightly as I have the utmost respect for the cast, crew and everyone involved with the show in both Vancouver and in Los Angeles,” she said in her statement.
Fans of the show and DC Universe need to not worry anymore.
Javicia Leslie has been cast as the new Batwoman for its second season. Instead of playing Kate Kane, she will be reintroduced as an entirely new character named Ryan Wilder.
Leslie will be the first black actress to play Batwoman on screen.
“I am extremely proud to be the first Black actress to play the iconic role of Batwoman on television, and as a bisexual woman, I am honored to join this groundbreaking show which has been such a trailblazer for the LGBTQ+ community,” she said about the new announcement.
According to The CW, Ryan Wilder’s character is described as: “Likable, messy, a little goofy and untamed. She’s also nothing like Kate Kane, the woman who wore the Batsuit before her. With no one in her life to keep her on track, Ryan spent years as a drug-runner, dodging the GCPD and masking her pain with bad habits. Today, Ryan lives in her van with her plant. A girl who would steal milk for an alley cat and could also kill you with her bare hands, Ryan is the most dangerous type of fighter: highly skilled and wildly undisciplined. An out lesbian. Athletic. Raw. Passionate. Fallible. And very much not your stereotypical all-American hero.”
Batwoman is the first on screen DC hero, and first on screen hero in general, to have a lesbian as the star of the show. It started with Ruby Rose as Kate Kane, and will now continue with Javicia Leslie as Ryan Wilder.
The show’s executive producer, Caroline Dries, assured fans that Kane’s presence will live on through the show, even though she may not be there physically:
“As a lesbian who’s been working as a writer for the past 15 years, I’m well aware of the ‘Bury Your Gays’ trope and I have no interest in participating in it. My comments about recasting Batwoman have launched a storm of rumors and misinformation and I wanted to clarify something. Like you, I love Kate Kane — she’s the reason I wanted to do the show. We’ll never erase her. I don’t want to give away any of our surprises, but to all our devoted fans, please know that LGBTQ+ justice is at the very core of what Batwoman is and we have no intention of abandoning that,” Dries said in an announcement in June.
It looks like fans do not have to worry at all about the beloved Batwoman, and her roots in the show of being a part of the LGBTQ+ community are not going to be erased or swept under the rug.
Batwoman is in good hands, and we can’t wait to see what Javicia Leslie does with her interpretation of the iconic hero.