The new Batwoman actress Javicia Leslie in God Friended Me.
Video screenshot by Bonnie Burton/CNET
The cast and crew of the popular Batwoman series on The CW gave fans a few more hints on what to expect from the upcoming season, on DC FanDome panel on Saturday. (Disclosure: The CW is a joint venture between Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS, which also publishes CNET.)
Showrunner Caroline Dries, Batwoman newcomer Javicia Leslie, and the returning cast Rachel Skarsten, Camrus Johnson, Meagan Tandy and Nicole Kang were on hand to talk about Batwoman and answer fan questions.
Batwoman TV series is replacing Ruby Rose’s Kate Kane with a brand new character.
The CW
Addressing Kate Kane/Batwoman exit
When actor Ruby Rose suddenly decided to quit as the lead in The CW’s Batwoman series this year, fans were concerned that the show wouldn’t explain her departure from the story.
Instead of stepping into Rose’s shoes as the character Kate Kane, The CW created a new DC Comics character named Ryan Wilder for Leslie to play on the show. This means Kate Kane’s sudden disappearance needs its own story.
At the Batwoman panel, showrunner Caroline Dries revealed that Rose’s character exit would indeed be addressed in the new season.
“We have two major stories, as we come into season two,” Dries said. “The first one is ‘Where’s Kate?’ What happened to Kate? Is she alive? Did she die? Is she missing? Is she on the run? Is she held captive? Is she lost? … And, then we are obviously just diving into Javicia. We have a new hero rising into Gotham.”
“Ryan will ironically, ultimately, unite the Kane family,” Dries added. “There are all of these strands of connection that she brings to them.”
The Batwoman costume previously worn by Ruby Rose will undergo a few changes.
The CW
Batwoman costume changes
While Leslie said she has not tried on the Batwoman suit, she did reveal that the costume (previously worn on the show by actor Ruby Rose) will be getting a makeover to suit her character.
“We’re talking about how important it is that if we’re going to have a Black Batwoman and that she needs to be, like, a sister when she becomes Batwoman,” Leslie said. “It’s important for her to feel like the silhouette of her could still look like that, with natural textured hair and things like that.”
The suit will evolve early on as Ryan Wilder decides to clean up Gotham as the new Batwoman.
“How can we be sure that Ryan isn’t hiding what makes her awesome, with this suit?” said Dries. “So it’s going to be a bit of an evolution. We’ll see the suit evolve early on in the season. Ryan is like, ‘For me to feel empowered in this thing, it needs to feel like it’s representing something I’m fighting for.'”
The new Batwoman/Ryan Wilder character has a checkered past as a former drug runner who dodged the GCPD (Gotham City Police Department) and often masked her pain with bad habits.
The new Batwoman is a highly-skilled and very undisciplined fighter. She’s also an out lesbian, just as Ruby Rose’s character Kate Kane was on the show.
Season 2 of Batwoman is scheduled to premiere on The CW in early 2021.