Batwoman: Ruby Rose Lands Title Role, Will Debut in Arrowverse Crossover With an Eye Toward Standalone Series
Orange Is the New Black‘s Ruby Rose has been sentenced to life in the superhero history books. The Australian actress has landed the coveted, titular role in Batwoman, which The CW is developing as a standalone series. The character will make her first appearance in the network’s three-way, Legends-less Arrowverse crossover event, set to air in December.
Slated for a potential 2019 premiere, Batwoman would follow the adventures of Kate Kane — the second incarnation of the Batwoman character in DC Comics lore, introduced in 2006 — who is described as “an out lesbian and highly trained street fighter.”
As TVLine reported, producers were seeking an out lesbian actress to play the role, and they succeeded; Rose came out as a lesbian at the age of 12.
The offshoot — which at this point has a script development deal — is set up at Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. The Vampire Diaries‘ Caroline Dries, also an out lesbian, will pen the script.
Here’s the official Batwoman logline: “Armed with a passion for social justice and a flair for speaking her mind, Kate Kane soars onto the streets of Gotham as Batwoman, an out lesbian and highly trained street fighter primed to snuff out the failing city’s criminal resurgence. But don’t call her a hero yet. In a city desperate for a savior, Kate must overcome her own demons before embracing the call to be Gotham’s symbol of hope. Based on the characters from DC.”
Thoughts? Were you one of the many prescient armchair casting directors who predicted Rose’s hiring? Sound off below!
Hmmm hmmm hmmm…look wise, I can see it! Acting wise… I don’t know. But from Black Lightning to Supergirl to the Flash…I’ve enjoyed the casting choices that the CW makes when it comes to their DC shows so I will trust their judgement on this one :)
Why is Ruby Rose so popular? I thought she was so over-rated on Orange and her character added little to the show.
Ooh – I like her! (And she could do action – I liked her scenes in xXx: The Return of Xander Cage.)
I approve. I’m sure that makes them feel good about it.
for a full minute there i thought you were messing with us.
ruby rose as kate kane. this is topnotch casting and i’m so excited about this!!!
No kidding! Huge get! I will definitely watch!
Good choice, but she’ll have tp put on some weight in muscle. She’s bone thin.
Melissa Benoist was so thin in Glee her first storyline was anorexia. She really put in some muscle for Supergirl AND they padded her suit.
The costume for Batwoman in the comics is padded and has a wig, to disguise Kate’s actual appearance.
Yikes! I don’t like her as an actress at all! But you know what, who knows, maybe she will surprise me. But she definitely will need to put on a lot of muscle because she’s pretty tiny.
They chose one of the worst actresses for this show…yikes
Well Stephen Amell isn’t the greatest actor either, but they managed to make it work anyway.
None of the CW Super hero actors can act all that well. This is nothing new.
Melissa Benoist is a pretty good actress.
No. She’s not.
I feel Benoist was perfect for Supergirl, but the show’s poor writing, and possibly direction, are what lets her down.
Omg no, she’s the reason I don’t watch Supergirl. I watched the whole first season hoping it would improve but it didn’t happen. The rest of the show was not all that great either.
Melissa is excellent. She just radiates sunshine! However, it was the red Kryptonite ep Falling in S1 where she really impressed me. The show hasn’t given her the acting showcase it should have IMO. She is a fine actress and they haven’t made th most of her skil.
Melissa Benoist is a good enough actress to star in a Broadway play and receive rave reviews for it. Even Carol King was impressed.
They don’t cast just anybody they can get for a Broadway play.
Grant Gustin would like a word…
Honestly, Flash is, by far, the best acted of the three, with Black Lightening coming on strong. Flash’s cast is good, top to bottom.
Melissa Benoist, Chyler Leigh, David Harewood, Jeremy Jordan, Katie McGrath
False. There are a lot of great actors/actresses across these shows.
Oh for Pete’s sake, get real. Sorry, but jeez – where are they, incognito?
Except Stephen knows he’s supposed to move his facial muscles while acting. Ruby Rose is like a mannequin
Well that’s a 100 % true DavidJ. As for Battygirl, Ruby done took her love to town, so Rose doesn’t work for me in any scenario, so I won’t be watching.
Stephen Amell was painfully bad to watch in the first season. He learned on the job and got watchable by the tail end of that season, but he’ll never be a “good” actor. I’m hard pressed to think of someone I’d call a “good” actor on the CW shows, and that’s fine. It works. To me, an avid comic reader and Batwoman fan, I think this casting is just about as perfect as it could be.
I think people like Grant Gustin, Melissa Benoist, Jesse L Martin, Tom Cavanaugh, Chyler Leigh etc… can all be safely called good actors.
Daaaaang. That’s quite the coup there. Well done CW, well done.
Ruby Rose has a great look and is fantastic at branding herself but she cannot act to save her life. I don’t see this working out but w/e.
Welcome to the CW! Where 99.9% of our talent cannot act.
This is patently false. There is so much talent spread across the CW, and there has been for years, and those excellent actors get ignored and underrated simply because of silly judgment leveled against the network.
Grant Gustin, Melissa Benoist, Chyler Leigh, David Harewood, Tom Cavenaugh, Jesse L Martin, Jeremy Jordan, Victor Garber would like to have a word with you.
You don’t have to act a lot to pull off grimdark.
Hmm. I’ve never seen her in anything. But then I hadn’t seen Melissa, Grant, or Stephen in anything before either.
I love Ruby Rose and think this is spot on casting. Just curious – is it really a 4 way crossover if Legends isn’t involved?
I guess it’s a 4-way crossover with a TV show that hasn’t aired yet.
LEGENDS is definitely not involved, as explained in-depth during our Comic-Con video. Typo fixed. –Mgmt.
Dis you bump, or delete, my mildly humorous fake news’ comment? We apparently posted at the same time.
Casting for this show would, for me, make or break it. It’s the latter. I’m sorry but Ruby Rose cannot act. I hope EPs etc do not attempt a KK Alex Danvers anything ….my back already hurts from the amount of lifting C.Leigh would have to do in their scenes.
Lol
Preach.
She was fantastic in John Wick 2, and even though she didn’t speak at all, she carried herself like a top-tier action star. She’s going to be phenomenal as Batwoman.
Yeah, I think that role probably helped her get this one.
lol I almost feel like she’s too big of a name for CW’s DCTV. I’ve never seen her act, so hopefully she can pull it off! People poo on the CW, but there’s some actual great acting going on in the network. But in Berlanti I trust.
I kinda agree. I’ve never seen her in anything (except one episode of Dark Matter, apparently), but her name pops up in headlines (and her face in trailers) often enough that I know who she is. My first reaction was, “Isn’t she too big to be doing a CW show.”
My first reaction was not that she is too big of a name for The CW, but I did immediately think why would she want to be tied down to a series doing 22-23 episodes per season when she seems to have other opportunities. Maybe her reps were smart enough to insist on 16-18 episodes per season.
Her roles have mostly been supporting parts so far. Getting a lead, even on a CW show is a big thing. And the CW shows do really well on Netflix, so in the end it’s a lot of exposure.
Batwoman is not a done deal! It’s an appearance then a pilot. At this point, as the article states, it’s just a script deal. After that, they then decide to go ahead or not. However, I do not know if a series deal is already in place for her should they do so.
Really? I only know her from OITNB and I think she isn’t that great on it.
She’s like a less talented Eliza Dushku.
Nice to see that they went with someone who isn’t a virtual unknown. My only hope is that they put her with a trainer to put on a little muscle. And remember, practically no one knew who Melissa Benoist was prior to her being cast as Supergirl, and she turned out to be perfect for the role. I’m more than willing to see how this plays out. Can’t wait to see her in full costume for the first time. (Wonder if she’ll dye her hair red or if they’ll just use the red hair as part of the costume?)
surprised now that dc is launching their own streaming service they are allowing cw to develop this series rather than use the character on a show for their service
Wow..The CW landed Ruby Rose?? She’s going to be amazing in that roll!
I support this decision. The CW has pretty great casting skills.
I really didn’t expect them to choose someone well known or that would truly fit the role, and now they went well beyond what I did expect!
I can see this working well, especially if she puts on a bit of weight and muscles, she is very thin!
I guess we can guess she won’t keep her Aussie accent for the role, since she’s a cousin of Batman and all, too bad!
Not impressed.
Interesting casting choice for the character. Hopefully Rudy will be good as Batwoman.
Kate Kane is not tv’s first out lesbian superhero. Anissa Pierce is. The disrespect. Honor what BL did instead of erasing out, to pump white accomplishments.
The qualifying word “lead” was inadvertently omitted; the homepage text has been fixed. –Mgmt.
Someone as untalented as this woman getting all these roles (wether they’re iconic, or a huge part of pop culture and so easily) should tell you how big white privilege is in Hollywood.
How do you seriously twist this into some racist argument ? Kate Kane is caucasian. Wanna blame Geoff Johns or Grant Morrison for that too ? This is getting so ridiculous.
She can definitely pull off the action. She was in John Wick 2 and will be in John Wick 3 next year as assassin Ares. She is also a real life lesbian as well which fits the character of Kate more naturally.
However if they not give her Kates classic long red hair I am going to be SERIOUSLY upset.
I am so there!!!!
Ruby Rose is hot! And, an actual lesbian, so she won’t feel the need to gargle after kissing a woman.