Following Ruby Rose’s sudden exit from Batwoman, fans of the Arrowverse show got more surprising news when it was then revealed that The CW will now be introducing a new lead character to take on the mantle of the Scarlet Knight for next season. In a recent appearance at the ATX Television Festival At Home, showrunner Caroline Dries finally addressed their decision of not recasting the role of Kate Kane, revealing that this was the only way they can give respect to Rose’s portrayal of Kate Kane.
“To be honest with you, I did consider the soap opera version for a hot minute, selfishly because we had already a couple of episodes written, and transition-wise it would be seamless,” Dries explained. (via Deadline) “Upon further reflection — and Greg helped me make this call, he is way smarter than me about this sort of stuff — he said, you know, we should just reboot the character in terms of reboot Batwoman as a different character, and also respect everything that Ruby put into the Katy Kane character. And I just think it helps the audience a little bit too, that we are not asking them to not address the elephant in the room.”
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However, it remains unclear whether the new character’s name Ryan Wilder is a code name for an existing DC character from the comics or if it is a whole different character created for the series.
Dries added, “I’m inventing a whole new character who in her past was inspired by Batwoman, so she will take on the mantle and is completely maybe not the right person at the time to be doing it, so that’s what makes it fun.”
Technically, Kate Kane wasn’t the only character to adopt the Batwoman persona in DC’s comic book universe. Almost 50 years before Kate debuted in 2005, Kathy Kane became the first superhero to use this alias in 1956 during the Silver Age. But since her name is so similar to her modern successor, an appearance by this iteration of the hero was probably never in the cards.
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The first season starred Ruby Rose as Kate Kane/Batwoman, Rachel Skarsten as Alice, Meagan Tandy (Teen Wolf) as Sophie Moore, Camrus Johnson (Luke Cage) as Luke Fox,Nicole Kang (You) as Mary Hamilton, Dougray Scott as Jacob Kane and Elizabeth Anweis as Catherine Hamilton-Kane.
Based on the characters from DC, Batwoman is from Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television with executive producers Greg Berlanti, Caroline Dries, Geoff Johns, and Sarah Schechter. David Nutter and Marcos Siega executive produced the pilot.
Season 2 is still expected for a January 2021 premiere date.
