Yesterday it was reported by many website that the CW and Greg Brelanti’s crew is rumored to be introducing a new lead character instead of replacing actresses to play the lead Batwoman/Kate Kane’s character. The new character for now is going by the name Ryan Wilder and she is in her mid to late 20s, the CW is casting any ethnicity. Ryan Wilder will become the new Batwoman. She’s likable, messy, a little goofy and untamed. She’s also nothing like Kate Kane, the woman who wore the batsuit before her. 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. Today, reformed and sober, Ryan lives in van with her plant. A girl who would steal milk from an alley cat and could also kill you with her bare hands, Ryan is the most dangerous type of fighter: highly skilled and wildly disciplined. An out lesbian. Athletic. Raw. Passionate. Fallible. And very much not your stereotypical All-American hero.
The qualities for the Ryan Wilder character reminds me of the Kate Kane comic book fans including myself will be familiar with from the Greg Rucka and J. H. Williams the 3rd, who wrote and illustrated in Detective Comics almost ten years ago. The Kate Kane I am familiar with had a gothic style, a party outlook, and an alcohol problem before becoming Batwoman and fighting crime. The Batwoman in the comics is very different from the CW series. She was never a female Bruce Wayne like in the CW series. She had her own methods, fighting style, and a personality that is not similar to Batman.
Written by Greg Rucka and Illustrated by J.H. Williams 3rd
It would not surprise me if the new character the CW introduces as its lead is actually the Kate Kane comic book fans wanted to see, but not using the Kate Kane by name. Either way this is horrible if this is confirmed to be true, because fans who are invested in the Batwoman the tv series will have to restart over and see if they can get behind this new version of Batwoman who will not have any investment with the supporting cast who was created as supporting cast for Ruby Rose’s Kate Kane in the first place. Just trying to explain this to the audiences who are invested in the series will be confuse and turned off by the series. For a show that only has one season they should just scrap the series completely, and focus on another bat family character as a series. Luke Fox has become a very establish character in the series just create a spinoff series of Batwing with the current cast as his supporting cast and boom the problem is solved.
Unfortunately it is not that easy since there’s a lot of money invested in the Batwoman series and the CW will do one more season especially announcing it months ago. I have seen shows that have replace their leads with a new character instead replacing the actor to play the same character. Fox’s Lethal Weapon series is one of the many examples of how a series tanks after replacing the lead with a new character or actor going into another season. I am predicting Batwoman will end after two seasons, if that is the directing the CW and Berlanti wants to go with. It is disappointing because Batwoman is one of the well known popular characters in the LGBTQ community. How the character has been treated is disappointing and for it to continue after Ruby Rose left the series after one season is disappointing and the character should be treating better with creators who care about the character because there is a lot of great story telling from Batwoman. I highly recommend anyone to read the rebirth Detective Comics series that features Batwoman and Batman leading a young Gotham heroes including Red Robin, Spoiler, Clayface, Orphan/ Cassandra Cain. It is a great storied series featured many great writers and artists.
Sadly the people who are working on the CW series have ignored a lot of the character development or stories and mythology of Batwoman in the comic books that displays the best version of this character that fans adored. For some reason the people on TV choose to ignore a lot of the things that works from the comic book material. I think with Berlanti and his people who are allowed to have a second opportunity with Green Lantern on HBO Max will probably half assed their CW Arrowverse series, because most of the attention will be on HBO Max to produce more content. If someone at CW was smart just cancelled the Batwoman series now that way you cut your losses before losing more money. I would rather have Batwoman series be cancelled than to see them ruin this character even more.
I thought Ruby Rose was a good Batwoman but didn’t have the right charisma to pull a Kate Kane. That’s not her fault that’s Showrunner Caroline Dires and Berlanti’s direction for the Kate Kane character and the world they were building around her. The series did have potential to get better if you were one of the few people who stayed watching the series all the way. I think its best to just cancelled the series and reboot Batwoman with a new showrunner and producers who care about this character who wants to see this character done right. I am sure no matter what happens with the Batwoman tv series the fans will complain and that is fine fans complain because they care and love the character like you and me do. They want to see the best version done right.
My Comic Book Opinion 