DC’s The Batman has officially begun principal photography, as announced by director Matt Reeves himself. Now that cameras are rolling on this Batman movie reboot, and the usual gears are turning in the blockbuster movie machine, fans are inevitably beginning to get more insight into what The Batman is all about. Now, thanks to reports about the The Batman’s production schedule, we’re getting new details about a couple actors previously listed for “mystery roles” in the film. You can get details on Peter Sarsgaard character HERE; as for newcomer actress Jayme Lawson, we now know that she’s landed a role in The Batman playing “Bella Reál.”
More specifically, Business Wire’s breakdown of The Batman cast lists Jayme Lawson’s role as “mayoral candidate Bella Reál.” It only takes a quick cursory search of DC Comics wikis to discover that there’s no established character by that name in Batman lore. So, either Bella is a new character that Matt Reeves is introducing, or (as some fan theories already speculate), the name is an alias meant to disguise a bigger reveal.
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One of the earliest theories was that Jayme Lawson was actually being cast as Barbara Gordon / Batgirl in The Batman. Since Reeves’ film is re-imagining Commissioner Gordon as an African-American man (Westworld‘s Jeffrey Wright), it only made sense that his daughter Barbara would match that cultural background. Even with this latest reveal that Lawson is playing Bella Reál, some DC fans won’t let the possible Batgirl connection rest; in the comics, Barbara Gordon did run for political office in the comics, eventually becoming a US Congresswoman. This move was made when Barbara decided that her vigilante life as Batgirl wasn’t bringing about the changes she wanted to Gotham; ironically, her costumed identity would later be the reason her re-election campaign failed.
The name “Bella Reál” (specifically the surname “Real”) sounds like a sort of red herring you’d find in a detective Noir tale, leading ot a reveal that makes you realize you should’ve seen through the trickery, all along. In a remixed version of the “Congresswoman Gordon” arc, Barbara could understandably change her name or run under an alias to avoid being tied to her father. Of course, after the Nolan era and Dark Knight Trilogy, we know that sometimes, a new character is just a new character (no more “John Robin Blake” reveals, please).
Upcoming DC movies include Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) on February 7th, Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5th, The Batman on June 25, 2021, The Suicide Squad on August 6, 2021, Black Adam on December 22, 2021, Shazam! 2 on April 1, 2022, The Flash on July 1, 2022, and Aquaman 2 on December 16, 2022.
