Last fall, Ruby Rose made her Arrowverse debut as Kate Kane when Batwoman swooped into the fray in the big “Elseworlds” crossover. The three-part event acted as something of a pitch presentation to the audience for The CW’s upcoming Batwoman TV series, which will follow Bruce Wayne’s cousin in her mission to protect Gotham in the absence of Batman. Other than that, though, plot details about the show are currently slim.
We now know a bit about the pilot episode however, thanks to Arrowverse architect Greg Berlanti. The exec producer spoke to Deadline and revealed that the spinoff series will go back in time before the events of “Elseworlds” and explore Kate’s origins story.
“[The] origin story that we set up predates the crossover. It’s a story prior to the crossover.”
“Elseworlds” told us that the Dark Knight mysteriously vanished from his hometown five years before, with Kate well-established as Batwoman, complete with suit and red wig. Presumably, we can look forward to an explanation for why she decided to fill in for her missing cousin and take on the Bat-mantle.
Confirmed to be joining Rose in the Batwoman cast are Rachel Skarsten as Alice, the big bad of the show’s first season, and Dougray Scott – most known to comic book fans as the first choice for Wolverine before Hugh Jackman was cast – as Kate’s father, Jacob Kane. Character breakdowns have hinted that Renee Montoya and Luke Fox AKA Batwing could also flesh out the main cast.
Batwoman is coming at a time when the Arrowverse is undergoing a major shakeup, with Arrow itself ending with its eighth season. As such, we fully expect Kate to take on a major role in the shared universe and as soon as we learn more about what The CW has in store for us, we’ll be sure to let you know.