Batwoman Star Calls Javicia Leslie’s Casting a “Blessing”

Batwoman actor Camrus Johnson calls the series’ recasting a “blessing.” Much has been made of the switch from Ruby Rose to Javicia Leslie. Fans of the Arrowverse didn’t know what to think, but Johnson told Inverse that the casting will be such a moment for fans who can see themselves in the actress. Now, Leslie will be Ryan Wilder in the show instead of being Kate Kane. But, she acknowledged how big it was for her to be in this spot in a previous statement. She said, “I am extremely proud to be the first Black actress to play the iconic role of Batwoman on television, and as a bisexual woman, I am honored to join this groundbreaking show, which has been such a trailblazer for the LGBTQ+ community.” Johnson believes it has the potential to be a landmark moment for young Black viewers at home too.

“Oh, she’s so awesome! I’m so, so excited to be working with her. I got to see her do a stunt and she broke into a huge smile before they even said cut,” Johnson remembered. “You could just tell that the little Black girl in her was like, ‘I cannot believe I’m Batwoman right now.’ I cannot wait for every other little Black girl in the world to be able to see her, to be able to see a Black female superhero in the Batsuit. It’s such a blessing to be in a show that can remind them that there are icons for them to look up to.”

Former series star Ruby Rose actually talked about her decision to walk away from the series with SiriusXM recently as well.

“It wasn’t that. That definitely made going back to work so quickly tricky, but they really accommodated trying to help me out the best they could, going back so early, because we wanted to obviously meet the release date of the show,” Rose began. “I think what played a bigger part was more, we got shut down early. We didn’t get to finish the first season, which is such a shame, especially for a first season show. And then we went into lockdown with COVID and thinking of in quarantine and locked down, there was a lot of thought and reflection and kind of everyone did it. We all kind of thought about where we’re at and so Warner Brothers and [producer] Greg [Berlanti], and we were discussing the show and we had a conversation.”

“I had a great time on Batwoman,” Rose admitted. “I am so proud of what we achieved. We set out to achieve something pretty significant, you know, the first-ever live-action Batwoman and the first-ever, out gay superhero, her and Kate Kane. And I love that character and the whole experience, but we did have a discussion and we sort of mutually agreed that probably what was best for the show at the time was that they go in a different direction and I go in a different direction.”

“It was tough, because it was sad cause we will love each other, but also it made sense for so many different reasons. And I think at the end of the day, I’m really excited to watch season two,” she added. “I think the show is great. I love the cast. I’m still in contact with everyone, but it was, it was a decision that we talked about, we discussed, we slept on. But at the time with all that reflection, it just seemed like the right thing to do.”

Are you excited to see the new Batwoman in action? Let us know in the comments!