Last month came word that Ruby Rose had decided not to reprise her role of Kate Kane in the second season of The CW’s “Batwoman” series, unexpectedly dropping out of the show’s leading role.
Then the other day came word that the show’s producers won’t recast but instead will incorporate a new and very different character named Ryan Wilder who will slip into the cape, cowl and red wig.
Appearing at the ATX Television Festival this week, showrunner Caroline Dries explained the choice to change up the leading character rather than simply recast:
“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 [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.’ Just to also respect everything that Ruby [Rose] put into the Kate Kane character.
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. 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 be the right person at the time to be doing it. That’s what makes it fun.”
This leaves two obvious questions as to how will the supporting characters interact with the new character as most of them were defined by their relationship to Kate be it familial or romantic, and how Kate’s absence will be explained. We’ll find out when “Batwoman” returns in 2021.
Source: Give Me My Remote (via CBM
