Batwoman (TV series)


Batwoman is an American superhero television series developed by Caroline Dries. It is based on the DC Comics character Batwoman and shares continuity with the other television series in the Arrowverse. The series premiered on The CW on October 6, 2019, and is primarily filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with location filming in Chicago, Illinois. In the first season, Batwoman follows Kate Kane overcoming her demons and past to become Gotham City's new symbol of hope as the vigilante Batwoman.
In May 2018, it was announced that Batwoman would appear in "Elseworlds", the Arrowverse series' 2018 crossover, with an announcement two months later that a series centered on the character was in development from Dries. Ruby Rose was cast as Kate Kane in August of the same year. In January 2019, the series received a pilot order from The CW, to be considered for a series order in the 2019–20 television season. The show was picked up to series in May 2019 and in October 2019 a full season of 22 episodes was ordered. Production on the first season ended early due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving the first season with only 20 episodes. In January 2020, The CW renewed the series for a second season, which is set to premiere in January 2021. In May 2020, Rose had exited the series, and two months later, Javicia Leslie was cast as Ryan Wilder, a new character that is set to take up the position of Batwoman.

Premise

Three years after billionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne and his vigilante alter-ego, Batman disappeared, his cousin Kate Kane sets out to overcome her demons and become a symbol of hope by protecting the streets of Gotham City as Batwoman.

Cast and characters

Main

LaMonica Garrett also stars on "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Two" as Mar Novu / Monitor, a multiversal being who tests different Earths in the multiverse in preparation for an impending "crisis" orchestrated by his polar opposite, Mobius / Anti-Monitor.

Recurring

Production

Development

In May 2018, The CW president Mark Pedowitz and Arrow lead Stephen Amell announced at The CW's upfront presentation that Batwoman would be introduced in the Arrowverse series' 2018 crossover, "Elseworlds", which aired in December 2018, fighting alongside the other Arrowverse heroes, with Gotham City also appearing. In July 2018, it was reported that The CW was planning to develop a series around the character, to air in 2019 if picked up. The series, said to only be a "script-development deal", was written by Caroline Dries, who would also serve as an executive producer with Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schecter, and the character's co-creator Geoff Johns. The series would be produced by Berlanti Productions and Mad Ghost Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. The following month, Pedowitz noted the pilot would be completed "for mid-season".
In December 2018, Dries submitted a "strong" script for a potential pilot episode, according to Nellie Andreeva of Deadline Hollywood. That led to the series receiving a pilot order from The CW the next month, to be considered for a series order in the 2019–20 television season. As of April 2019, the series was considered "a lock" at The CW, and reportedly had a writing staff in place. On May 7, 2019, The CW ordered the show to series. On October 25, 2019, the series was picked up for a full season of 22 episodes. On January 7, 2020, the series was renewed for a second season, which is set to premiere in January 2021.

Casting

Casting for Kate Kane was expected to begin after the announcement of the intended series in May 2018, with the intention of casting an out lesbian actress. In August, Ruby Rose was cast as Kate Kane / Batwoman. In late January 2019, Meagan Tandy, Camrus Johnson, and Nicole Kang were cast in the series regular roles as Sophie Moore, Luke Fox, and Mary Hamilton, respectively. This was followed shortly by the casting of Rachel Skarsten as Alice, Dougray Scott as Jacob Kane, and Elizabeth Anweis as Catherine Hamilton-Kane. On August 21, 2019, Sam Littlefield was cast in a recurring role. In July, Burt Ward was cast for the Batwoman part in the 2019 Arrowverse crossover "Crisis on Infinite Earths". On October 4, 2019, Rachel Maddow and Sebastian Roché were cast in recurring capacities.
The casting of Rose as Batwoman was met by backlash on social media and received intense criticism. DC Comics, which owns the rights to the longtime comic book superheroine Batwoman, reintroduced the character in 2006 as a lesbian of Jewish descent. Some online reactions attacked Rose for not being Jewish, while the main focus of the criticism was the assertion that the fact she identifies as gender fluid made her "not gay enough." Rose left Twitter and deactivated public commenting on her Instagram account following the backlash.

Recasting of Batwoman

In May 2020, Rose announced she would be leaving the series ahead of its second season. No reason was given for Rose's departure. However, TVLine and Variety reported Rose did not like the long work hours and did not adjust to life living in Vancouver where the series was partially filmed, leading to "friction on the set"; Rose would later refute these reports. It was mutually decided between Rose, the studio, and the network for her to leave. The producers reaffirmed their commitment to the series and finding a new actress of the LGBTQ community to lead future seasons. The following month, a casting notice for a new character named Ryan Wilder was revealed, indicating the series was looking to replace Kane as Batwoman. Dries defended the decision to introduce a new character as Batwoman, asserting that the series will continue to "respect everything that Ruby put into the Kate Kane character." She also revealed Kane would not be killed, and her disappearance would be a key storyline during season two.
Matt Webb Mitovitch at TVLine and Jill Pantozzi of io9 both felt replacing Kane as Batwoman would be a detriment to the series. Mitovitch felt it would "create more problems than it solves", saying it would take away from the established character dynamics and the various plot threads waiting to be resolved from the end of the first season. He added: "a simple if momentarily awkward recast would have kept all established storylines and dynamics intact; Season 2 could then pick up where the solid Season 1 left off. Instead, loyal viewers will be asked to re-invest in something that is significantly new, while also possibly giving up some of the things they liked most about the show." Pantozzi felt the series could have approached the casting of a new lead actor more creatively, given the series exists in "a universe of time travel, doppelgängers, and literal face-swapping". She concluded, "if they are truly doing away with the Kate character it feels like a bizarre move. Fans could much easier come to terms with a simple replacement actress, than having to go through a convoluted story of why a random lesbian has taken up the cowl so soon after Kate did.... It seems like a lot of explaining to do when there’s a much easier option." Conversely, Colliders Liz Shannon Miller felt a new character was "the right call" and "a big swing" for the series. Miller pointed to the "long-established precedent" in the comics of new characters taking over mantles from others. Like Mitovitch, Miller questioned what the new character would mean for the series' supporting cast, since their connections to Kate were "their primary reason for being a part of the show’s storyline". She also hoped "Ryan Wilder" was a placeholder name, "because the trend of naming strong female characters with traditionally male names has just gotten tired at this point". In early July 2020, it was announced that Javicia Leslie, a bisexual black woman, was cast as Ryan Wilder, the new Batwoman. Rose was supportive of Leslie's casting.

Writing

The Batwoman origin story presented in the series is adapted from the comic book story arc. The events up to the fourth episode predate Batwoman's appearance in "Elseworlds", after which the events surpass the crossover.

Filming

Production on the pilot episode began on March 4 and concluded on March 25, 2019, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Additional filming took place in Chicago, Illinois. David Nutter had been chosen to serve as director and executive producer on the pilot in January 2019, but by mid-February, left the project for personal reasons. Nutter remained an executive producer on the episode, with Marcos Siega replacing him as director and also serving as an executive producer. Filming for the rest of the season began on July 4 and was set to conclude in mid-2020. On March 12, 2020, Warner Bros. Television shut down production on the series due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The series had one additional day of shooting on episode 20, which could not happen because of the shutdown. Dries said they were "lucky" despite this, because the last day of filming concluded the "important" Alice/Mouse storyline, resulting in "a solid episode" with what had been filmed. Filming for the second season is expected to begin in late August 2020.

Release

Broadcast

The series debuted on October 6, 2019. It was originally set to run for 22 episodes, but as the 21st and 22nd episodes could not be filmed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 20th episode served as the season finale. In New Zealand, the series is streamed on TVNZ’s free streaming service TVNZ OnDemand. In the United Kingdom, the series is shown on E4.

Marketing

On May 16, 2019, The CW released the first official trailer for the series. The trailer received a negative reaction on YouTube, with viewers accusing it of an overemphasis on feminism. The trailer received 86,000 "likes" compared to 428,000 "dislikes" by August 22, 2019. Comic Book compared the backlash against a perceived agenda to that suffered by 2019's Captain Marvel and its actress Brie Larson. Alex Dalbey of The Daily Dot noted how the trailer received a range of angry reactions, but nonetheless felt that criticism of the trailer's focus on the protagonist being a woman was valid, which she found to be "forced" and "hamfisted" via the dialogue and choice of song. Dalbey also wrote: "It's 2019; we have Wonder Woman, Black Widow, Supergirl, Jessica Jones, Spider-Gwen, Captain Marvel and more. Batwoman isn't even the first lesbian superhero on the CW, there's also Thunder in Black Lightning." However, Jean Bentley of The Hollywood Reporter noted, "The character of Batwoman, aka Batman's cousin, Kate Kane, is the first lesbian superhero to headline her own series."

Home media

Season 1 is scheduled for an August 18, 2020, release on DVD and Blu-ray. Special features will include deleted scenes, a gag reel, highlights from DCTV's 2019 San Diego Comic-Con panels, and a behind-the-scenes featurette entitled "On the Set". The release will also include a bonus disc with all five episodes of the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover event.

Reception

Ratings

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 79% based on 49 reviews, with an average rating of 6.85/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Though it needs more time to develop its own identity to truly soar, Batwoman fun and stylish first season is a step in the right direction for representation and superhero shows alike." On Metacritic, the series has a weighted average score of 59 out of 100 based on reviews from 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Accolades