Batwoman: Javicia Leslie to play the lead role

The CW has found its new Batwoman with Javicia Leslie. The actress who starred in the series God Friended Me will portray the character who will replace Kate Kane after the departure of Ruby Rose.

In a press release Javicia Leslie said: “I am extremely proud to be the first Black actress to play the iconic role of Batwoman on television”. She added: “as a bisexual woman, I am honored to join this groundbreaking show which has been such a trailblazer for the LGBTQ+ community”. For her part, Ruby Rose praised the choice of the actress on Instagram: “OMG!! This is amazing! I am so glad Batwoman will be played by an amazing Black woman. ❤ I want to congratulate Javicia Leslie on taking over the bat cape. You are walking into an amazing cast and crew. I can’t wait to watch season 2 you are going to be amazing!!”.

Javicia Leslie will play Ryan Wilder, a young woman about to embrace the Batwoman suit. Once a drug addict, Ryan is now sober and is the kind of dangerous, highly skilled and highly disciplined fighter who can kill you with her bare hands. She is an openly lesbian woman with an athletic, raw, passionate and fallible personality. She is also far from the stereotypes of the 100% American hero.

A new character makes its debut in 2021

While the production had considered to recast the role of Kate Kane, Caroline Dries, creator of the series, explained her choice to introduce a new character so as to “respect everything that Ruby put into the Kate Kane character”. She explained: “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”.

The character played by Javicia Leslie will make her Batwoman debut in the first episode of season 2 and is scheduled to air in January 2021 as part of the launch of the new CW schedule.