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Batwoman Will Not Recast Kate Kane; New Character Eyed To Lead Series


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Warner Bros. TV and The CW have not confirmed the following information but Decider has reported that the show has opted to create a new character to play Batwoman rather than recast Rose's role of Kate Kane, a cousin of Bruce Wayne.

This information comes from a since-deleted casting notice posted to the Batwoman Reddit forum.

The new character is named 'Ryan Wilder' (Name could possibly change) and is described as a woman in her mid-20s.

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"She’s likable, messy, a little goofy and untamed. She’s also nothing like Kate Kane, the woman who wore the batsuit before her," the notice reads, according to Decider. "With no one in her life to keep her on track, Ryan spent years as a drug-runner, dodging the GCPD and masking her pain with bad habits. A girl who would steal milk for an alley cat could also kill you with her bare hands, Ryan is the most dangerous type of fighter: highly skilled and wildly undisciplined. An out lesbian. Athletic. Raw. Passionate. Fallible. And very much not your stereotypical All-American hero."

The first season of Batwoman is the first scripted live-action TV series to feature a lesbian superhero at the top of the call sheet. The character was played by Ruby Rose until she made an announcement that she has decided to exit the series. 

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"This was not a decision I made lightly as I have the utmost respect for the cast, crew and everyone involved with the show in both Vancouver and in Los Angeles. I am beyond appreciative to [executive producers] Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and Caroline Dries for not only giving me this incredible opportunity, but for welcoming me into the DC universe they have so beautifully created."

 

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They actually managed to make it even worse hahaha

 

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11 hours ago, No1WonderFan said:

Warner Brothers needs to just let this go. It might work with Barbara Gordon and a name change to "Batgirl," but not some newly created character.

Never gonna happen. DC isn't above pandering (as you may have noticed), but they will NEVER pull an SJW conversion on one of their "Money Characters."

Why do you think Alex suddenly discovered she's been a life-long lesbian in Supergirl Season 2, despite clearly being into guys during season 1. 

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Why does Batwoman HAVE to be a lesbian? One character isn't working so you swap another in? No, that sends the wrong message that the sexuality is more important than the character. I disagree totally. They should simply have recast, continued the character relationships & evolution that played out over the course of the season, and called it a day. This is badly overthinking something that should have been simple..... to show my age? They just recast the husband on Bewitched and that turned out fine!

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They should have just recast. To try and sell us that another expertly trained fighter and detective female that just happens to be lesbian comes and picks up the mantle is almost in itself stereotyping.

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7 minutes ago, 41055_1529445590 said:

They should have just recast. To try and sell us that another expertly trained fighter and detective female that just happens to be lesbian comes and picks up the mantle is almost in itself stereotyping.

Either way, it doesn't work for me. Bringing in a "Coy and Vance" just ruins any emotional investment you may have in the character, and, at least for me, bringing in a new actor to take over a role just kind of takes me right out of the show. No matter what, you lose the narrative thread.

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3 hours ago, mako said:

Either way, it doesn't work for me. Bringing in a "Coy and Vance" just ruins any emotional investment you may have in the character, and, at least for me, bringing in a new actor to take over a role just kind of takes me right out of the show. No matter what, you lose the narrative thread.

Nice DOH ref. If anything it shows exactly what the main narrative is about. Change everything, but that one thing.

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6 hours ago, AdamM said:

Why does Batwoman HAVE to be a lesbian? One character isn't working so you swap another in? No, that sends the wrong message that the sexuality is more important than the character. I disagree totally. They should simply have recast, continued the character relationships & evolution that played out over the course of the season, and called it a day. This is badly overthinking something that should have been simple..... to show my age? They just recast the husband on Bewitched and that turned out fine!

The character was created by DC back during the New 52, explicitly to be a lesbian hero. "Described as the highest-profile gay superhero to appear in stories published by DC". That's her hook. The creators wanted a character that reflected the populace of Gotham. Like it or not, in this case the sexuality is the character. Its not the CWs decision; this was what DC wanted. Doing a live action show on this character and then casting a non -lesbian actor, is the very definition of being tone deaf.

My objections to the character and the show have nothing to do with her sexuality. I personally don't care for "copy cat" superheroes. There are exceptions, but for the most part I find it to be a sign of limited imagination. Super boy, Super girl, super Lois, Super Perry White, Super Dog, Cat, Horse, Monkey...come on.

And for the Batman this is worse. Batgirl? At least Robin had an already established Olympic level acrobatic skill level when he meets Batman; she was a librarian who took some karate classes. Hardly a match for running around with the Dynamic Duo. Sure, they jazzed up Kate Kane with krav maga and judo, but making her out of whole cloth just feels made up.

One of the prime ingredients that created and drive Batman is that he had virtually no one to lean on when his parents were killed. That isolation, plus the rage and ferocity that was created in him, was what drove his intensity to become the master detective and martial artist that he is. It wasn't an overnight process; it took most of his childhood/young adulthood to get to that point. And he didn't have some cousin hanging around him all that time.  Creating a forgotten family after 80 years, that we're supposed to believe was always there, makes no sense. It dilutes him. I also dislike the Gotham tv show for this reason. Good riddance to that crap.

The Batwoman tv show is plagued by the shadow of "What Happened to Batman" over it. Its constantly about her trying to fill his boots and it cant stand on its own no matter how hard they try. Oh and her main villain! A terrible, badly acted and badly written mashup of the Joker and Harley Quinn...its just unwatchable (for me). The proposed new casting, that theyre trying to say is a new direction: "Ryan is the most dangerous type of fighter: highly skilled and wildly undisciplined. An out lesbian. Athletic. Raw. Passionate. Fallible. And very much not your stereotypical All-American hero". That's exactly what Kate Kane was supposed to be!

I heard that Ruby Rose suffered a spinal injury and had to have emergency surgery. That, on top of low ratings, make me feel she's right to leave the show. Her health comes before anything else. CW should cancel the show and move on to something else.

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4 minutes ago, Atlantis said:

The character was created by DC back during the New 52, explicitly to be a lesbian hero.

Actually, the character was created in the 60's to be a female counterpart to Batman. The character was later re-imagined (groan) as a lesbian because DC needed some fast "shock and awe" action to boost flagging sales. No slight against the character or anyone who likes the current direction, it just is what it is.

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1 hour ago, mako said:

Actually, the character was created in the 60's to be a female counterpart to Batman. The character was later re-imagined (groan) as a lesbian because DC needed some fast "shock and awe" action to boost flagging sales. No slight against the character or anyone who likes the current direction, it just is what it is.

That character was supposed to be a love interest and counterpart to Batman. This one is his never-existed-before cousin. Dan Didio explicitly said they wanted a character who reflected the population of Gotham. Not seeing whats so "shock and awe" about that. Like I said, my objections to the character are totally different, and I think more to the point, will show its not necessary. We don't need multiple versions of the same character- DC seemed to get this back when they did the first Crisis, and winnowed down lot of redundant characters. Sadly they've backslid, paving the way for more writer inconsistency and confusion, and more reboots to clear up the mess they made in the first place, just to go back to the same thing.

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3 hours ago, Mightythorness said:

Just let the show die already !!

And do a actual Batman show instead. 

As far as I'm concerned, cancel the whole lot, give Berlanti his walking papers, and start fresh with someone who understands these characters.

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The only way I'd be interested in this show at this point is if they brought in Kathy Kane, the original Batwoman, as the main character. It's never been clear what her relationship to Bruce or Kate would be, but some theorize she's their aunt by marriage (much younger than her deceased husband and their contemporary age-wise). You could still keep Kate's Dad and all the other characters. And they could even bring in Bette Kane, the original Bat-girl, at some point.

Otherwise...just let it go. Start over with a new Batgirl series with Barbara Gordon. She's the fan favorite anyway, has a much better personality, and would pair up wonderfully with Kara Zor-El.

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16 hours ago, Atlantis said:

The character was created by DC back during the New 52, explicitly to be a lesbian hero. "Described as the highest-profile gay superhero to appear in stories published by DC". That's her hook. The creators wanted a character that reflected the populace of Gotham. Like it or not, in this case the sexuality is the character. Its not the CWs decision; this was what DC wanted. Doing a live action show on this character and then casting a non -lesbian actor, is the very definition of being tone deaf.

My objections to the character and the show have nothing to do with her sexuality. I personally don't care for "copy cat" superheroes. There are exceptions, but for the most part I find it to be a sign of limited imagination. Super boy, Super girl, super Lois, Super Perry White, Super Dog, Cat, Horse, Monkey...come on.

And for the Batman this is worse. Batgirl? At least Robin had an already established Olympic level acrobatic skill level when he meets Batman; she was a librarian who took some karate classes. Hardly a match for running around with the Dynamic Duo. Sure, they jazzed up Kate Kane with krav maga and judo, but making her out of whole cloth just feels made up.

One of the prime ingredients that created and drive Batman is that he had virtually no one to lean on when his parents were killed. That isolation, plus the rage and ferocity that was created in him, was what drove his intensity to become the master detective and martial artist that he is. It wasn't an overnight process; it took most of his childhood/young adulthood to get to that point. And he didn't have some cousin hanging around him all that time.  Creating a forgotten family after 80 years, that we're supposed to believe was always there, makes no sense. It dilutes him. I also dislike the Gotham tv show for this reason. Good riddance to that crap.

The Batwoman tv show is plagued by the shadow of "What Happened to Batman" over it. Its constantly about her trying to fill his boots and it cant stand on its own no matter how hard they try. Oh and her main villain! A terrible, badly acted and badly written mashup of the Joker and Harley Quinn...its just unwatchable (for me). The proposed new casting, that theyre trying to say is a new direction: "Ryan is the most dangerous type of fighter: highly skilled and wildly undisciplined. An out lesbian. Athletic. Raw. Passionate. Fallible. And very much not your stereotypical All-American hero". That's exactly what Kate Kane was supposed to be!

I heard that Ruby Rose suffered a spinal injury and had to have emergency surgery. That, on top of low ratings, make me feel she's right to leave the show. Her health comes before anything else. CW should cancel the show and move on to something else.

<<That's exactly what Kate Kane was supposed to be!>>    yes! you said a lot of good things here, but that's the #1 that sticks out to me that really irks for what the CW is doing.....they're replacing her with....her?  'sigh'... Unless there's a secret very good idea,this seems so strange.

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18 hours ago, mako said:

As far as I'm concerned, cancel the whole lot, give Berlanti his walking papers, and start fresh with someone who understands these characters.

Geoff Johns would be a good choice.  He's the showrunner of Stargirl, wrote the first two episodes (they were genuinely great), and he created the character and wrote the comics.  It forehead-smackingly strange that it's taken this long for WB to say "maybe we should get the guy who wrote the comics to develop a show based on them," but it probably helps that he used to be the President and CCO of DC Entertainment.

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12 hours ago, Satam said:

Geoff Johns would be a good choice.  He's the showrunner of Stargirl, wrote the first two episodes (they were genuinely great), and he created the character and wrote the comics.  It forehead-smackingly strange that it's taken this long for WB to say "maybe we should get the guy who wrote the comics to develop a show based on them," but it probably helps that he used to be the President and CCO of DC Entertainment.

Total agreement. I just saw the first episode of Stargirl yesterday, and it blew me away! The opening fight scene was awesome, and Joel McHale as Starman was great. I honestly didn't see them rolling out the S.T.R.I.P.E. suit in the first episode either. This thing is pure fan-service in the best way.

I'm hoping Johns is the only hand on the wheel despite Berlanti being listed as an executive producer. Maybe it's just an honorary thing like they did for Stan Lee for years. All I know is they can have Flash, Black Lightning, Batwoman, Legends of Tomorrow, and even Superman and Lois, just give me Stargirl. Just this one. Don't make it political, counter-culture, propaganda, or a recruiting tool. Just let it be a good show.

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This is a total failure to launch. Time to cut losses. The whole roll out of this show was a farce and it was so over the top most people thought it was a joke. It was.

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Seems odd to create a whole new character. Almost makes the first season kind of pointless in the long run if season two is successful. I'm still surprised they didn't lock Ruby in with a 5 year contract or something.

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OK this character was not created recently but in 2006.  https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Katherine_Kane_(New_Earth)
https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Batwoman

There have been many Batwomen. It shouldn't be hard for them to choose another!

It is quite disappointing though because of all the back story they have done with Kate Kane which was leading up to things. I guess no more cross over with Supergirl then.

Creating a whole new character? That will just destroy this show.

Maybe they should just have Rachel Skarsten take over. They are "twins" after all.

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Hmm. With Arrow gone, Ruby walkin', Elongated Man getting fired from the Flash, and by their own admission, next years crossover being a much smaller scale affair, one has to wonder what exactly is going on behind the scenes back at the CW Ranch.

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