Batwoman: Wallis Day Breaks Silence on Joining Season 2

Batwoman fans were in for a huge surprise on Sunday night when, soon after the airing of “Survived Much Worse”, The CW series’ ninth episode of its second season it was confirmed that Krypton and The Royals star Wallis Day had been cast as Kate Kane, taking over the character from Ruby Rose who departed at the end of Season 1. Now, with the casting confirmed, Day herself is speaking out, writing on Twitter that she’s “super excited” to announce that she’s joined the cast.

“Super excited to finally announce I’m joining the cast of Batwoman,” Day wrote. “I’m sure you can imagine how much this means to me and how incredible it’s been working on the show so far. Everyone’s made me feel so welcome and it’s amazing being back home with my DC family.”

Perhaps best known to DC fans for her role as Nyssa Vex on Krypton, Day was a popular fan casting for the Kate Kane/Batwoman role when it was initially announced that Batwoman would recast following Rose’s departure. At the time Day took to Twitter to note that the role “sounds like a dream job”. When it was later announced that the series was introducing the Ryan Wilder character — which is played by Javicia Leslie — as a new Batwoman, it seemed like Day playing Kate Kane simply wouldn’t happen.

That changed in “Survived Much Worse”.

The episode offered what initially appeared to be a definitive conclusion to Kate’s story when Julia Pennyworth confirmed that remains that had washed up outside of Bludhaven matched Kate’s DNA. Then, however, the episode’s final sequence revealed a bandaged woman implied to be Kate captive in the basement of a Gotham barbershop.

“Wallis Day is going to be playing our altered version of Kate Kane, and she’s an amazing actress,” showrunner Caroline Dries explained to TVLine. “I’m excited for you guys to see the journey that she endures.”

As for what’s next and what it means for Ryan, that will be interesting to see play out over the course of the second half of Batwoman‘s second season, but it doesn’t sound like Ryan’s journey as Batwoman is over.

“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,” Dries told Entertainment Weekly. “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 two.”

Batwoman airs Sundays at 8/7c on The CW.