We’re still wary about how this too-soon revision of Batwoman is going to go. Actress Ruby Rose quit the lead role on The CW super-program after just one season, leaving the fate of Kate Kane up in the air. CW followed that shocker with one of their own when they announced they wouldn’t be recasting Kate — just replacing her with a character of their own invention.
It’s an incredibly risky gamble that could wind up ruining a series that started off pretty strong. In the world the writers built, everyone and everything revolves around Kane. There’s no believable way to introduce outsider “Ryan Wilder” to this storyline and get her to granted Batcave access within one or two episodes.
According to the producers, it will take THREE episodes for Wilder to don her permanent outfit. In the first two, she uses Kane’s old duds — how she gets them is a mystery. Eventually, though, we’ll see her looking like this:
“I felt it was important that viewers could tell by the silhouette that Batwoman was a Black girl,” says Javicia Leslie, the actress hired to play the part of Wilder. “With the form-fitting suit and beautiful Afro, we definitely nailed it.” The signature part of Batwoman’s costume is the bright red wig, so we were resigned to the fact that Leslie’s lovely pom-pom would inevitably get squashed out of visibility half the time. But no….turns out The CW is willing to let her natural hair fly 24/7.
Of course that just raises another issue…if civilian Ryan Wilder has the same exploding hair, a face mask over the eyes isn’t going to conceal much of her secret identity. But then again, Stargirl has the same problem and it’s never come up, and this IS the same universe where Clark Kent can put on a pair of glasses and no one can see the Superman behind them.
Like it or not, The New Adventures Of Different Batwoman will begin in early 2021 on The CW. There will be nice hair, at least.
