Batwoman boss admits Ruby Rose’s replacement ‘doesn’t fit’ in season 2 ahead of major DC shake-up
BATWOMAN boss admits Ruby Rose's replacement "doesn't fit" in season 2 ahead of a major DC shake-up.
Three months ago it was revealed that the Orange is The New Black actress, 34, had decided to step down from her role of the protagonist on the American superhero television series.
So producer Caroline Dries decided to introduce a whole new character to the show - Ryan Wilder, who will be portrayed by Javicia Leslie.
The show runner has explained why Ruby Rose's replacement doesn't really work with the season 2 shake-up - at least not right away.
She explained: "At first, she doesn't fit, she doesn't fit literally. She makes it fit her.
"In making it fit her, she makes the Bat accessible to this whole other world of people who normally might not have a hero to look up to. So, she puts her stamp on the legacy."
The two characters couldn't be more opposite, with Kate Kane who comes from a wealthy background, in contrast to Ryan Wilder, who is a skilled fighter who has been linked to drugs in the past.
Despite fans questioning if it will all make sense in the second series, the producer reassured them and explained that her disappearance will play out as a major storyline in the new series.
Season 2 will also spend plenty of time establishing Ryan Wilder's character.
She added: "Kate Kane has disappeared in season 2, and it was controversial to the fans because of course they love Kate Kane, so of course we're going to keep her part of the show.
"But [Rose's exit] also gave us this really unique opportunity to create a new Batwoman.
"I decided to make up a character named Ryan Wilder who is the opposite of Kate Kane.
"Ryan Wilder is a character that Batwoman needs to protect. It just provided a new rich storytelling device for us."
Speaking about her role as the first ever black woman to portray Batwoman, Javicia Leslie said: "What I love about DC, what I love about WB, what I love about [Greg] Berlanti [producer] is that you have these iconic characters, and they've done this amazing job of making them so many different ethnicities and shapes and sizes, and things that weren't as typical as you may have imagined when you were a kid.
"They've showed us you can be anything no matter what the colour of your skin is."
Speaking previously at the virtual ATX Television Festival, Caroline spoke out about her decision to introduce the new character on the CW show.
She said: “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 two.
"But upon further reflection, and [executive 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'.
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"Just to also respect everything that Ruby put into the Kate Kane character."
She added: "I just think it helps the audience a little bit, too, that we're not asking them to not address the elephant in the room," she said.
"I'm inventing a whole new character. In her past, she was inspired by Batwoman.
"She is going to take on the mantle and is completely maybe not the right person at the time to be doing it. That's what makes it fun."
Batwoman airs on The CW in the US and on E4 in the UK.
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