Batwoman Introduces Its First Non-Binary Character in “Gore on Canvas”

The CW’s Batwoman introduced its first non-binary character Sunday night in “Gore on Canvas”. Ahead of the episode’s debut, writer Daniel Thomsen shared on social media the importance of the character’s introduction, writing that while the episode only scratches the surface with the character, bringing a non-binary character to the larger conversation was important, and hopefully, there will be more from that character in the future.

Spoilers for Sunday night’s episode of Batwoman, “Gore on Canvas”, below.

In the episode, viewers are introduced to Evan Blake (Lincoln Clauss), a former classmate and friend of Kate Kane’s who also has ties to the Collective, an underground art community where the rich and twisted are able to purchase illegal works. The Collective has a specific work by the criminal/artist Jack Napier that it just so happens that The Crows, as well as Team Batwoman, are trying to acquire as it contains a map to the mysterious island Coryana — and presumably would lead them to Kate.

Ryan Wilder(Javicia Leslie) ultimately ends up going to the Collective’s gathering in an attempt to acquire the painting and encounters Evan herself. Evan, who is dressed in jewels and a flowing dress, tells Ryan that his pronouns are he/him and they/them, explaining that he just wants people to be themselves authentically. It’s something that is clearly important to the character — when first introduced earlier in the episode it’s with a story about how Kate helped him come out.

“On tonight’s episode of Batwoman, Caroline [Dries, showrunner] gave me the opportunity to introduce a non-binary character,” Thomsen wrote. “there’s a beautiful messiness to queer coming of age that can be trampled when we feel pressure to adopt a fixed gender identity/expression. Life is long and unpredictable, and the evolution of self should be celebrated. As a writer, I’ve long wanted to add a character to the conversation that knows they deserve a rich journey to find happiness, even if they don’t know precisely what form that happiness will take. The fun is getting there, and the vehicle is confidence. We only scratch the surface with this character tonight, but I hope we’ll see more of them in the future.”

And we may see more of Evan in the future. The episode revealed that not only did he have connections to the art scene, but he’s also Wolf Spider and his theft of what ended up being a fake Napier was meant to help locate Kate as well.

Batwoman airs Sundays at 9/8c on The CW.