Vanessa Morgan is reportedly being eyed to take on the mantle of Batwoman in the show’s second season.
Ever since Ruby Rose hung up her cape and cowl after just one season of Batwoman, fans have been wondering what it’s going to mean for the show, which has been renewed for a second season, moving forward.
Showrunner Caroline Dries opened up about some changes they will be making to the show’s second season at a ATX Festival At Home Q&A (with “Legacies” showrunner Julie Plec) – namely, they’re NOT going to recast a new actress for the role of Kate Kane/Batwoman but introducing a whole new character to take on the superhero mantle.
“To be honest with you, I did consider the ‘soap opera version’ [of simply recasting the same character] for a hot minute,” Caroline admitted, per TV Line.
“But upon further reflection — and I think [Arrowverse EP] Greg [Berlanti] helped me make this call — he’s like, ‘I think we should just reboot Batwoman as a different character,’” she continued.
The new character is (maybe) named Ryan Wilder – a scrappy twentysomething who lives in a van, with her plant. According to Caroline, Ryan is “a whole new character who in her past was inspired by Batwoman, so she is going to take on the mantle,” adding that she “is maybe not the right person at the time to be doing it, so that’s what makes it fun.”
Their decision to go into such a different direction was in part to honor “everything that Ruby [Rose] put into the Kate Kane character” during Season 1, and added that “it also helps the audience, because we’re not asking them to address ‘the elephant in the room.’”
According to The Cinema Spot, Riverdale’s Vanessa Morgan is one of the actresses being eyed for the role – she’ll have to go through an audition and a screen test first though. Apparently, The CW wants an actress who is younger than 30 years old, and “gets” Berlanti Productions and its culture. However, they haven’t closed their doors on having other actresses try out for the role.
If she does land the role of Batwoman’s Ryan Wilder, the question is: what that will mean for Vanessa’s character, Toni Topaz, on Riverdale?
It was previously announced *spoiler alert* that Season 5 will feature a time jump – 5-years into the future. And, since a lot can happen in five years, the upcoming season’s storyline could presumably provide a convenient exit for the character.
