UPDATE: Vanessa Morgan is rumored to take on the Wilder roll and Kate Kane is set to be killed.
Batwoman is replacing Kate Kane’s character, story, and entire journey on the hit CW series and we’re pissed! According to a leaked casting call no longer available on Reddit, Ryan Wilder, a female in her mid-late 20’s of any ethnicity, will be taking on the role of Batwoman. The description continues on to say that, “She’s likable, messy, a little goofy and untamed. She’s also nothing like Kate Kane, the woman who wore the batsuit before her.”
We don’t want another character to take on the Batwoman mantle. We want Kate Kane. We want Alice to somehow be involved in a face swap when it comes to her sister. Or you could simply have Barry do what he does best and fuck shit up, including the timeline. Until then, here are a couple reasons why this character change is a hot mess!
1. Queer people aren’t interchangeable.
Just because Ruby Rose decided to leave Batwoman doesn’t mean that she’s interchangeable with another queer character. Kate Kane is iconic to the comic book world and that of the LGBTQ world. Deciding to cast an all new character shows major disregard for this queer woman, her life, her experiences, and the people she’s met along the way.
2. There was no groundwork to lead this to happen.
It would’ve worked better, this whole changing of the guard when it comes to Batwoman, if the groundwork was laid out this season for the disappearance of Kate Kane and the rise of “Ryan Wilder,” the new character to take Kate’s place. There’s been absolutely no clue that Kate Kane leaving Gotham is the best decision for the future of Batwoman. If anything, they’ve set up a whole bunch of storylines that Kate could work on in season 2.
3. Alice, who?
This entire first season laid down the groundwork for the most epic relationship in the Batwoman mythos aka the bond between Kate Kane and her twin sister Beth. What happened to these two young women has been so core to the story of Batwoman that bumping off Kate Kane for a new character means that everything that happened with Alice was for nothing AND WE’RE NOT HERE FOR IT.
4. Mary, who? Luke, who?
Not only does the erasure of Kate Kane lead to Alice’s story meaning nothing, the same thing goes for Mary and Luke. What was the point of building up a team here? What was the point of bringing Mary and Luke closer to Kate Kane? What was the point of showing us a united front when it comes to Team Batwoman, if you’re going to replace her character with a nobody?
5. What about Supergirl?
One of my favorite parts of Kate Kane’s storyline was her relationship with Kara Danvers aka Supergirl. They were the ying to each others superhero yang and I loved every moment they spent together. With the introduction of kryptonite via Alice I was hoping for Supergirl to appear on Batwoman for a crossover episode. With a new character, that idea seems dead in the water and like a wasted opportunity on top of all the other ones.
BONUS
+1 “Any ethnicity” and “drug runner”
I can feel it in my bones, people. They’re going to cast a queer actor who isn’t white, possibly a Latina, and I’m going to be pissed. Not because I don’t want representation. I do. But why is it that people of color always have to be tied to drugs? Is it because The CW thinks anyone who isn’t white is a thug? It just rubs me the wrong way, especially with the current political climate.
Do better, The CW.
Batwoman has been renewed for season 2 on The CW.
