Gotham will be welcoming a new caped crusader in 2021 as Javicia Leslie will take over the title role from Ruby Rose in The CW series’ second season. Warner Bros. TV broke the news on social media indicating that Leslie will play a new version of the character named Ryan Wilder. This casting decision positions Leslie to become the first Black actress to play Batwoman in a live-action TV or film production.
The show’s producers and showrunner Caroline Dries decided to create a new character rather than allow Leslie to step into Ruby’s Kate Kane version of Batwoman. Dries stated (according to the Hollywood Reporter) that the character change will be worked into the storyline and that “… her disappearance will be one of the mysteries of season two.”
Leslie’s character, Ryan Wilder, is described as “likable, messy, a little goofy and untamed. She’s also nothing like Kate Kane, the woman who wore the Batsuit before her… A girl who would steal milk for an alley cat and could also kill you with her bare hands, Ryan is the most dangerous type of fighter: highly skilled and wildly undisciplined.”
Former Batwoman Ruby Rose was excited to share the casting news, offering congratulations to the new Gothamite.
Leslie was last seen on God Friended Me on CBS and in BET’s The Family Business and film Always a Bridesmaid.
Batwoman is scheduled to return to The CW sometime in early 2021.