Last week, Riverdale actress Vanessa Morgan called out Riverdale’s showrunners for the way that the show treats black actors and characters. Now, the My Babysitter’s A Vampire star is in talks to be the caped crusader in CW’s Batwoman (and we are so here for it!).
Last month, Ruby Rose, who played Kate ‘Batwoman’ Kane, announced she would not be returning for the second season of CW’s latest addition to their TV superhero universe, after reports that she was upset with the extremely long work hours that come from being the show’s lead. Thus, fans began to speculate who would take over to protect Gotham.
As reported by The Cinema Spot, Morgan is being eyed for a new character on the show called Ryan Wilder. Production first announced they were actively casting for a new lead earlier this month.
According to Pink News, Batwoman showrunner Caroline Dries doesn’t want to “kill off” Rose’s character and the original Batwoman because it would be just another example of the “Bury Your Gays” trope. The “Bury Your Gays” trope is a fictional narrative device found abundantly in media where LGBTQIA+ characters die or are met with an unhappy ending. Think, Lexa in CW’s The 100, Timothée Chalamet (Elio) crying by the fireplace at the end of Call Me By Your Name or Ellie’s best friend Riley in The Last Of Us: Left Behind.
“As a lesbian who’s been working as a writer for the past 15 years, I’m well aware of the ‘Bury Your Gays’ trope and I have no interest in participating in it,” Dries said, according to Pink News. “That’s why it’s important to me as the showrunner to clarify any misinformation out there about Kate Kane and recasting Batwoman.”
“Like you, I love Kate Kane – she’s the reason I wanted to do the show. We’ll never erase her. In fact, her disappearance will be one of the mysteries of season two.”
It’s unclear just who exactly this “Ryan Wilder” character is, but Dries stresses that “LGBT+ justice is at the very core of what Batwoman is and we have no intention of abandoning that.”
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