Shortly after God Friended Me co-star Javicia Leslie was unveiled as the new lead of the CW series Batwoman, the actress she is succeeding, Ruby Rose, took to Instagram to congratulate her replacement.
“OMG!! This is amazing!! I am so glad Batwoman will be played by an amazing Black woman,” Rose wrote next to a photo of Leslie. “I want to congratulate Javicia Leslie on taking over the bat cape. You are walking into an amazing cast and crew. I can’t wait to watch season 2 you are going to be amazing !!,” Rose added in a note accompanied by multiple heart emojis. (you can see it below)
Batwoman premiered last fall as the first superhero series in television history to feature an avowed LGBTQ character as the central character. Following Rose’s departure, the producers vowed to cast another LGBTQ actor in the role. With Leslie’s casting, Batwoman broke further new ground.
“I am extremely proud to be the first Black actress to play the iconic role of Batwoman on television, and as a bisexual woman, I am honored to join this groundbreaking show which has been such a trailblazer for the LGBTQ+ community,” Leslie said in the casting announcement.
As Deadline previously reported, Leslie will play a new character in the title role who will succeed Rose’s Kate Kane. Leslie will portray Ryan Wilder who is about to become Batwoman.
The series’ showrunner Caroline Dries recently said that the decision to introduce a new Batwoman character allows the show to “respect everything that Ruby put into the Kate Kane character” and “helps the audience a little bit too, that we are not asking them to not address the elephant in the room.”
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