Javicia Leslie is taking over the bat cape.
The CW and Warner Bros. TV announced on Wednesday (July 8) that the actress has been cast as the new lead in Batwoman.
ICYMI, Ruby Rose revealed back in May that she was hanging up her cape and cowl after just one season of Batwoman despite the show’s renewal for a second season. Warner Bros. TV, the CW and Berlanti Productions has since announced that they will be casting a new lead for the show.
Javicia, who most recently starred in the series God Friended Me, will be the first Black actress to play Batwoman onscreen (Kimberly Brooks voiced Batwoman in the 2003 animated film, Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman). She will be playing the new Batwoman character Ryan Wilder, who will step into Batwoman’s shoes after Kate Kane disappears from Gotham.
According to the character description, Ryan is likable, messy, a little goofy and untamed – in other words: The complete opposite of Kate. She also lives in her van with her plant.
With no one in her life to keep her on track, Ryan has kind of a shady past – spent years as a drug runner, dodging the Gotham City Police Department and masking her pain with bad habits. She’s the type of girl who would steal milk for an alley cat but could also kill with her bare hands.
Ryan is further described as the most dangerous type of fighter: highly skilled and wildly undisciplined. An out lesbian. Athletic. Raw. Passionate. Fallible. And very much not your stereotypical all-American hero.
“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,” Javicia said in a statement.
She also went on social media the news, sharing a screenshot of the casting announcement, captioned, “For all of the little black girls dreaming to be a superhero one day… it’s possible!”
As for Ruby, she couldn’t be happier to pass the mantle on to Javicia and took to Instagram to say so.
“OMG!! This is amazing!! I am so glad Batwoman will be played by an amazing Black woman. ❤️,” Ruby wrote alongside a photo of Javicia. “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 !! ❤️”
In other TV news…
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina will be casting one last spell before closing its final chapter.
On Wednesday (July 8), the show’s official social media account announced that CAOS is dropping its fourth and final season on Netflix later this year.
“It all comes down to one last Chilling Adventure. Our final chapter is coming later this year. Coven forever. 🖤,” they captioned a series of stills from the show’s upcoming season.
“Working on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina has been an incredible honor from Day One. The cast, beginning with Kiernan as everyone’s favorite teen witch, has been an absolute joy. I am beyond thankful to the crew, writers, editors, assistants, and everyone for pouring so much love into this dark dream of a show,” showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa said in a statement. “I’m also grateful to our partners at Netflix, Warner Bros., Berlanti Television and Archie Comics for letting us tell the story we wanted to tell, the way we wanted to tell it. We can’t wait for everyone to see Part 4.”
As for what fans can look forward to in Part 4, the cast dishes that things are about to get dicey for Sabrina and her pals.
“Clearly, Blackwood cut open that damn egg and the Eldritch terrors are running amok in Greendale and they’re more powerful than any character force, even combined,” Kiernan said.
“Things are going to step out of, as far as our characters are concerned, all of our comfort zones,” Tati Gabrielle, who plays Prudence, teased. “We’ve studied magic for our entire lives… But what’s coming is something unlike any other and terrifies even the hardest of witches such as Prudence. The end may be coming.”
“You can certainly expect the Eldritch terrors to come more into the fray and for us to be very unprepared and for the content and the intensity to go up,” Chance Perdomo, who plays Sabrina’s cousin Ambrose, added.
