SPOILER ALERT: If you have not yet watched the latest episode of Batwoman, this article contains SPOILERS so proceed with caution or turn back now.
The latest episode of Batwoman, entitled “Survived Much Worse,” shocked fans when it was revealed that Kate Kane is still alive. After most of the episode was used to “prove” that Kate was actually dead, a badly burned and bandaged Kate was shown to be alive in the sewers below Gotham. It was just announced that Wallis Day will portray Kate moving forward, replacing Ruby Rose who left the role after the first season.
In the absence of Kate, the show introduced Ryan Wilder, played by Javicia Leslie, as the new Batwoman. The show has spent eight episodes building the character of Ryan Wilder. What does Kate’s return mean to this new Batwoman?
Showrunner Caroline Dries explained in an interview with EW:
“Seeing Ryan grow into the Batsuit has been priority one from a storytelling point of view, and it’s been a beautiful journey so far witnessing Ryan take on that mantle, and she’s proven to the city by episode 8 that she is Batwoman. She belongs in the suit. And when Kate comes back, and when they discover Kate’s back, that confidence will be rattled a little bit, and she’ll start to wonder, “Well, where do I fit?” And so while the city believes in her, full-heartedly, Ryan will go through her own journey of learning to believe in herself, and that’s really something we focus on towards the later part of season 2.”
Dries went on to add:
“For Ryan Wilder, everything in her life that’s ever been good has been ripped away, and in the back of her mind, she always knew, “This is too good to be true, this is going to be ripped away from me.” Especially with the notion of Kate still being out there. And then when it’s definitive, Kate’s not coming back, Ryan looks at the suit and is like, “I’m Batwoman. What does that mean? What can I do for the city, not just as Batwoman, but as, her journey in episode nine is, as Ryan Wilder?” Kate Kane gave so much back to the city just as Kate. Bruce Wayne donated so much to the city as Bruce. What is Ryan doing just as Ryan [going] to give back to the city? So she really starts to sort of design her own Bat code, so to speak, and her own rules for the Bat Team, and embraces the job full-heartedly at this point.”
Just because Kate is coming back doesn’t mean that she’ll take back the mantle of Batwoman. In fact, it almost seems like a guarantee that this won’t happen. Ryan’s journey is just beginning and it sounds as though she still has some growing and soul searching to do for the rest of this season.
What do you think? Are you excited that Kate Kane is coming back? Or are you more interested in seeing Ryan’s journey to becoming her own Batwoman?
Batwoman airs on Sundays nights at 8 p.m. EST/PST on The CW.
