Ruby Rose to Star in BATWOMAN Pilot at The CW
In the wake of the positive reception of the “Elseworlds” cross-over event in the Arrowverse, The CW has given a pilot order for Batwoman, starring Ruby Rose in the title role. The show will be produced by Greg Berlanti’s production company along with Warner Bros. Television and Vampire Diaries writer/producer Caroline Dries. Executive producers will be Berlanti, Dries, Nutter, Sarah Schechter, and Geoff Johns.
Rose is an Australian model and actress who gained notoriety in the third season of Orange is the New Black, playing Stella Carlin. Since then, she’s had roles in Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, xXx: Return of Xander Cage, John Wick: Chapter 2, and The Meg.
Dries was on the staff of Vampire Diaries for six years as a writer, supervising producer, and then executive producer. It’s reported that her script for the pilot was strong enough to merit speculation that it would get an early order. She also penned the scripts for the three “Elseworlds” episodes, which were seen as a trial balloon for Batwoman.
Batwoman will be helmed by go-to director David Nutter, who directed the pilot episodes for The Flash, Arrow, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Supernatural, Smallville, and Dark Angel, just to name a few. He is one of the most sought-after directors in the industry, especially for pilots. He is perhaps best known for his work on Game of Thrones.
There have been two Batwoman characters in the pages of DC Comics. The current version, Kate Kane, was created by Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid, and Ken Lashely and introduced in 52 #7. After having been discharged from the Army for being a lesbian, Kate encounters Batman and takes up the vigilante life. Kate also happens to be a wealthy socialite and cousin to Bruce Wayne through his mother, Martha.
The 52 story arc takes place following the events of Infinite Crisis, after which Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman took a year off from their superhero identities. In the wake of their absence, other heroes stepped into the void to continue fighting villains who had overrun Metropolis and Gotham City.
During the New 52 initiative, Kate was set to marry Maggie Sawyer (a character we’ve seen on Supergirl) when DC pulled the plug on the planned nuptials, causing the creative team of W. Haden Blackman and J.H. Williams III to leave the book abruptly in protest.
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According to artist Alex Ross in his sketchbook Rough Justice, writer Paul Dini had requested a rougher form of Barbara Gordon for animation seven years prior. Dini was a producer on Batman: The Animated Series as well as a writer for DC. The idea was never used in animation, nor was the idea for an updated Batgirl used at the time because Gordon was one of the few disabled characters in the DC lineup. So the design evolved into the modern Batwoman, and update on the original from 1956.
In the early descriptions for the show, Kate Kane is described as an out lesbian and highly trained fighter with no trouble being out-spoken, but she’s a reluctant crime-fighter who needs to “overcome her own demons” before she can fight back against the mayhem in Gotham.
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