Ruby Rose quitting Batwoman came as a big surprise to fans. Her casting was announced with great fanfare and despite some rumors of unhappiness on set, most expected her to stick it out for longer than a single season. But I guess if you’ve gotta go, you’ve gotta go.
Her departure left The CW in an awkward spot, too. After all, do you recast the role and act like nothing’s changed, or take the bold step of writing the lead character out of the show? In the end, they chose the riskier option, with the series now to set to focus on Javicia Leslie’s Ryan Wilder.
Showrunner Caroline Dries recently discussed this in an interview with the LA Times and explained that they seriously considered recasting, saying:
“I think some TV shows can get away with [recasting], but for us, it felt a little wonky. So I decided, let’s continue the storyline but let’s introduce this new character who takes on the mantle of Batwoman, and maintain Kate Kane’s legacy on the show and create a mystery around where she went and lean into the challenge.”
This ties in with what she said back in June, stating that simply finding a new actor to carry on as Kate would have by far been the easier choice.
“To be honest with you, I did consider the soap opera version for a hot minute, selfishly, because we had a couple episodes already written, and transition-wise, it would be seamless [since] we already started breaking season 2. But upon further reflection, and [producer] Greg [Berlanti] helped me make this call and he’s way smarter than me about this sort of stuff, he’s like, ‘You know, I think we should just reboot the character in terms of reboot Batwoman as a different character.’ Just to also respect everything that Ruby [Rose] put into the Kate Kane character.”
The show looks set to tackle this passing of the mantle in its season premiere on Sunday. The episode is titled “What Happened to Kate Kane” and has a lot to cover. The synopsis says we’ll see the characters searching for the missing Kate, with Wilder finding an abandoned Batsuit and donning it in order to take out gang members. There are no reports of Ruby Rose shooting any material for the second season, so if her Batwoman does appear, expect it to be in flashback footage from the first run.
Of course, it remains to be seen how quickly Wilder is going to establish herself as the new Bat, though given that she appears to have a fully tricked out Batmobile this season, I’m betting we’ll skip over her learning the vigilante ropes a little bit.
However it pans out, Batwoman has taken on a huge challenge in continuing without its star. Still, fans are eager to see what Javicia Leslie can do and we’ll find out this Sunday on The CW.