BATWOMAN Showrunner Explains Why Kate Kane is Being Replaced By a New Character

Not long after Ruby Rose announced she was leaving The CW’s Batwoman series, it was revealed that her character Kate Kane would not be recast. Instead, the creative team made the decision to replace the character with a whole new one.

The new character’s name is Ryan Wilder, and she will be younger than Kate Kane. The character is in her mid-to late 20s, and she’s described as “likable, messy, a little goofy and untamed” and “nothing like Kate Kane, the woman who wore the batsuit before her.” Here are some additional details that were shared for the character:

A former drug-runner,  the now-reformed and sober Ryan lives in her van with her plant and is a highly skilled but wildly undisciplined fighter. Like her predecessor, Ryan is an out lesbian, with performers who identify as LGBTQ encouraged to submit for the role.

In a recent appearance at the ATX Television Festival At Home (via Deadline), showrunner Caroline Dries opened up about the decision of not recasting the role of Kate Kane, saying:

“To be honest with you, I did consider the soap opera version for a hot minute, selfishly because we had already a couple of episodes written, and transition-wise it would be seamless. Upon further reflection — and Greg helped me make this call, he is way smarter than me about this sort of stuff — he said, you know, we should just reboot the character in terms of reboot Batwoman as a different character, and also respect everything that Ruby put into the Katy Kane character. And I just think it helps the audience a little bit too, that we are not asking them to not address the elephant in the room.”

She went on to explain that this Ryan Wilder character is a whole new character being invented for the series:

“I’m inventing a whole new character who in her past was inspired by Batwoman, so she will take on the mantle and is completely maybe not the right person at the time to be doing it, so that’s what makes it fun.”

The second season of Batwoman will chronicle how Ryan ends up becoming Batwoman. As I’ve said before, it’s not uncommon for multiple people to take on the identity of a superhero in comic books. So, while some people are making a big deal out of this, it’s kind of the nature of the comic book world.

Rose addressed her departure on social media saying, “It wasn’t an easy decision but those who know, know…” It’s been reported that Rose was not happy while shooting the first season, and “her behavior made everyone on the set miserable to a point where no one could see this going for another season, leading to the breakup.”

I thought season one of the series was descent. I did like Rose in the role of Batwoman, but it will be interesting to see how things play out in Season 2.