The CW network has picked up its “Batwoman” pilot for a full season. The upcoming show will center on the DC Comics lesbian superhero and is set to air sometime during the 2019-2020 TV season.
The network released a teaser for the series Tuesday. Posted to The CW’s Twitter account, the 20-second clip shows Australian actress Ruby Rose standing on a roof, clad in a black and red leather suit and mask.
"Protector of Gotham. #Batwoman is coming soon to The CW!" the network wrote.
The CW ordered the pilot in January shortly after Rose debuted as Kate Kane, Batwoman's alter ego character, in the network's “Elseworlds” crossover television event, which brought together superheroes from several different CW series.
Kate Kane was reintroduced in 2006 as a social justice-oriented street fighter who works to take down the city’s criminals. At the time, DC Comics executive Dan DiDio told Wizard Entertainment that the choice to make Batwoman a lesbian stemmed from conversations with other executives about having a more diverse superhero universe.
“We wanted to have a cast that is much more reflective of today’s society and even today’s fanbase,” DiDio said at the time.
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Caroline Dries, who has worked on several other shows for The CW, including "The Vampire Diaries" and "Smallville," is set to write and executive produce "Batwoman," according to Variety. Other executive producers for the series reportedly include Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, Geoff Johns, David Nutter and Marcos Siega.
Fans are excited for the show, with some even speculating about a romance between Supergirl and Batwoman.
“I’ve been looking forward to this since the crossover,” according to Andrew Sparling, a New York-based writer. “Kate Kane is one of my favorite superheros and Ruby Rose did an awesome job. Rock on.”
Rose, who identifies as a lesbian and gender fluid, shared the teaser on her Instagram.
“A new hero emerges. @cwbatwoman is coming soon to The CW! #Batwoman,” she wrote.
"Batwoman" is not the only CW show to feature an LGBTQ superhero. Transgender activist and actress Nicole Maines plays trans character Nia Nal on the CW series "Supergirl." The show’s producers worked with DC Comics, LGBTQ media advocacy organization GLAAD and members of the transgender community to “show the whole spectrum of humanity, and that everyone can be a hero," according to Variety.
Wentworth Miller and Russell Tovey, both openly gay actors, played a same-sex couple in "The Flash." Their characters, Citizen Cold and The Ray, kissed in The CW's 2017 crossover event, “Crisis on Earth-X." Afterward, in "The Flash" series, Citizen Cold announced that he wanted to marry The Ray.
On "Legends of Tomorrow," Sarah Lance (Caity Lotz) and Ava Sharpe (Jes Macallan) grow from nemeses to friends to eventual love interests.
Last year, GLAAD’s “Where We Are on TV” report found the percentage of LGBTQ characters on broadcast primetime television has reached an unprecedented level with one in 11 characters identifying as openly LGBTQ.
