‘Batwoman’: Greg Berlanti Responds to Controversy Over Ruby Rose’s Casting

Back in August Ruby Rose‘s casting as Batwoman in The CW‘s Arrowverse was announced and while there was plenty of positive buzz, there was a bit of backlash as well. Now, Greg Berlanti is speaking out.

Berlanti, who created and developed The CW’s Arrowverse and produces the shows under his Berlanti Productions, recently spoke with The Hollywood Reporter and said that the backlash about Rose’s casting is simply par for the course when it comes to shaking up status quo.

“Whenever you’re bringing change about in any form, there are always conversations that happen,” Berlanti said. “I go all the way back to Dawson’s Creek. Twitter didn’t exist, but we would get boxes of letters expressing opinions in all directions from where we making enough change, should we be making more change, or why did we feel like we needed to do these things? It’s always part of the process, so just focus on the story and make the best episode that you can.”

Berlanti is referring to an episode of the WB series that featured a gay kiss, but it’s something of an opposite issue that got backlash when it came to Rose. Before leaving Twitter, Rose wrote about the backlash and, specifically, how people were trying to say she wasn’t “gay enough” to play Batwoman.

“Where on earth did ‘Ruby is not a lesbian therefore she can’t be Batwoman’ come from — has to be the funniest most ridiculous thing I’ve ever read,” Rose wrote. “I came out at 12? Ad have for the past 5 years had to deal with ‘she’s too gay’ how do y’all flip it like that? I didn’t change.”

The idea of being too gay or not gay enough is clearly one that isn’t an issue for Berlanti. He had nothing but praise for Rose, who will make her debut as the character in the upcoming Arrowverse crossover in December and is also developing a pilot for a dedicated Batwoman series.

“[Ruby] is terrific in the role, and we’re excited for people to see the story,” Berlanti said.

The Arrowverse crossover will Sunday, Dec. 9 through Tuesday, Dec. 11 on The CW. The Flash‘s fifth season will premiere on Tuesday, Oct. 9th at 8 p.m. ET, followed by Supergirl‘s fourth season on Sunday, Oct. 14th at 8 p.m. ET. Arrow‘s seventh season will premiere on Monday, October 15th at 8 p.m. ET, with Legends of Tomorrow debuting Monday, October 22nd, at 9 p.m. ET.