Will Batwoman Be Arrow's Brooding Heir Apparent? (Also, Is She Jewish?)

Matt Webb Mitovich

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Given that The CW’s Oliver Queen/Green Arrow served as a bit of an ersatz Bruce Wayne/Batman, conventional wisdom suggests that the upcoming Batwoman series — about Bruce Wayne’s cowled cousin — will strike a similar brooding tone.

“I brood a little,” Batwoman star Ruby Rose told TVLine at the Television Critics Association summer press tour on Sunday. “[But] it’s the writing,” she quickly added. “I have other facial expressions, believe it or not!”

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In fact, “I was very excited the other day to do an episode where I got to smile,” Rose shared. But yeah, Kate Kane “has been through a lot. There’s a lot of heaviness and darkness.”

As for Batwoman literally succeeding Arrow in the Arrowverse, “No one can fill the void left by Stephen [Amell],” avowed exec producer Sarah Shechter. “We’re hopefully creating a void that will be left after this show is gone. Arrow was the seed of the tree [and] I don’t think we could replace that.”

Debuting Sunday, Oct. 6 (where it will lead into Supergirl), Batwoman follows Kate Kane, “an out lesbian and highly trained street fighter” primed to snuff out the failing Gotham City’s criminal resurgence. The cast also includes Dougray Scott (Snatch) as Kate Kane’s dad, Jacob Kane, a former military colonel who commands Gotham’s private security firm The Crows and “has made it his mission to protect his city better than the Dark Knight ever could”; Rachel Skarsten (Reign) as Alice, the Joker-esque leader of the Wonderland Gang; Meagan Tandy (Teen Wolf) as Kate’s onetime love, Sophie Moore; Camrus Johnson (Marvel’s Luke Cage) as Lucius Fox’s son, Luke; and Nicole Kang (YOU) as Kate’s step-sister, Mary Hamilton.

In addition to Alice’s season-long arc, other villains on tap for early episodes include Tommy Elliot and Magpie, the EPs confirmed at TCA.

And yes, in addition to being lesbian as in the comics, The CW’s Kate Kane also “is a Jewish woman,” exec producer Caroline Dries confirmed. (And because of that, some of Rose’s many real-life tattoos, including a cross, will be tweaked with make-up.)

Though a reference to young Kate, seen in flashback, being on her way home from her bat mitzvah was cut from the pilot, the producers said the character’s faith will be addressed in organic ways.

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