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CW has found it's new Batwoman in Javicia Leslie
- Thread starter Slaythe
- Start date
I guess it's half a reboot. Like, it's still the same world and all the other characters will be the same, and Kate Kane still existed in that world, so in terms of story it's meant to be totally in continuity with the previous series. It'll certainly have some reboot-like aspects, though, since we are going to have to be introduced to this new character.
In terms of comparisons to other shows....that's a bit tricky. Most shows where main actors left had been going for a few seasons already, or were just cancelled. Out of the remaining few, most chose to recast rather than create a new character to take on the same role.
So none of these examples are perfect fits for what's happening with Batwoman, but some shows that had major characters leave early on, and kept going:
Stargate SG-1 - the TV series didn't go through any major cast changes, but two of the lead characters are from the Stargate movie, where they are played by Kurt Russell and James Spader. For television, the same characters were played by Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Shanks.
Doctor Who - with the original actor who was cast as the Doctor becoming less healthy and more difficult to work with after several years, the show's script editor came up with the idea that the Doctor, being an alien, could be given the alien ability to regenerate upon death, allowing for a new actor to take over the lead role, as the same character, but also with their own individual characteristics. This means that the lead actor can change whenever necessary. Though this didn't happen in the first season of the original production run (which didn't really have "seasons" as such), it did happen for the first season of the revival of Doctor Who, as Christopher Eccleston left after just one year.
Legends of Tomorrow - didn't really have any one "main" character as such, but mentioning this partly because it is an Arrowverse show and partly because it did go through significant cast changes after season 1. The Hawks were mercifully Poochied, the actor who probably got the most screen time (Wentworth Miller) left, and the actor playing the character who was the nominal leader of the team (Arthur Darville) had a significantly reduced role in season 2. There's a pretty stark dividing line between LoT season 1 and all the other seasons, and a lot of that is due to the cast changes.
My original thought was that it was a mistake to not simply recast the role as I don't understand how they can keep the backbone of the show in place (the heavy aspect on family -- good sister vs. evil sister, step sister who just found out the secret identity, the relationship with their father, the introduce of Bruce Wayne).
But I'm changing my opinion.
Given that Kate Kane was the biological daughter of two white people, they obviously couldn't just recast with Javica. And if they're taking this opportunity to actually double down on the importance of representation by having the woman under the mask not only continue to be part of the LGBTQ community but a black woman as well. My fears have gone away quite a bit.
I still worry about how they're going to handle the family-related nature of the show here but bravo to The CW and the showrunner. It would be so much easier to simply recast and keep it going as it. Instead, they made a more difficult writing situtation for themselves and still decided to use that situation to push more representation. And given how solid the back half of the first season was, I don't doubt they could pull it off.
It's strange how this makes me feel much more positive about season 2 now. To the point where I'm actually looking at this as a situation where "Ryan Wilder" becomes as synonymous with Batwoman as Kate Kane, perhaps more so, if they pull it off.
It also leaves them in a sitaution where they can absolutely still recast Kate and bring her back into the fold someday, perhaps with a completely new identity.
But I'm changing my opinion.
Given that Kate Kane was the biological daughter of two white people, they obviously couldn't just recast with Javica. And if they're taking this opportunity to actually double down on the importance of representation by having the woman under the mask not only continue to be part of the LGBTQ community but a black woman as well. My fears have gone away quite a bit.
I still worry about how they're going to handle the family-related nature of the show here but bravo to The CW and the showrunner. It would be so much easier to simply recast and keep it going as it. Instead, they made a more difficult writing situtation for themselves and still decided to use that situation to push more representation. And given how solid the back half of the first season was, I don't doubt they could pull it off.
It's strange how this makes me feel much more positive about season 2 now. To the point where I'm actually looking at this as a situation where "Ryan Wilder" becomes as synonymous with Batwoman as Kate Kane, perhaps more so, if they pull it off.
It also leaves them in a sitaution where they can absolutely still recast Kate and bring her back into the fold someday, perhaps with a completely new identity.
The show sucks, I don't know how I stuck around for half a season
The second half was actually great and made it one of the best first seasons in the Arrowverse. It honestly falls right behind The Flash and Black Lightning for me I think.
Oh, weird. It was actually a supportive tweet showing the diversity of the Batwoman cast.
Eh Black Panther is essentially a Black Batman, but with better gadgets, more money, less toxic, just as competent in martial arts if not more so and just as intelligent and cunning.
Right. But in this specific case, there were a lot of issues surrounding the creation of a brand new character. The first is that Kate Kane herself is a fairly iconic character in comics because of her relation to the LGBTQ community. The second is that almost the entire damn cast of the show is related to her in some way.
- The main bad guy is Kate/Batwoman's biological sister.
- The season ended with Kate/Batwoman's step sister finding out her identity.
- The season also ended with a bad guy wearing the face of Bruce Wayne, Kate's cousin, appearing as a set up for season 1.
- Kate's ex-girlfriend and father are main cast members.
There are so many hurdles to jump in order to continue the plot of season 1 while also replacing the central character with a brand new character.
This news actually gives me faith they're going to pull it off but the idea of making a brand new character instead of recasting was almost universally hated before tonight.
Still not happy about the creative direction they've taken with not just recasting Kate and seemingly voiding the first season and the new original character thing comes off as an ego trip for the people in charge but I guess I'll give it a shot.
Is this the same character recast, or a new Batwoman? Honestly it would be kinda cool if they were like, "we're picking up where we left off, same character, deal with it" lol.
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Completely new character. Kate Kane will be "disappearing" between seasons and that will be part of the plot.
I was wondering if she was also a lesbian. Thanks for basically confirming that.
Yeah I dunno why you haven't been cast yet either
Pretty cool casting.
She's bisexual.
www.advocate.com
She's bisexual.
Bi Actress Javicia Leslie Cast as the First Black Batwoman
After Ruby Rose's departure from CW's Batwoman, Leslie will be playing the role of a new series lead named Ryan Wilder.
www.advocate.com
How does getting rid of Kate instead of recasting in favor of a character of their own creation not smack of ego?
Because they're using the opportunity to double down on important representation by casting a black woman, which they needed a new character to do.
Looks like they used this moment to do something important despite it creating a more difficult writing situation for themselves at first. I don't think that's ego.
Well, I hope they also reflect that in their writers room for season two and are dropping that "drug-runner" shit.
