Arrowverse Producer Responds To Batwoman Casting Backlash

As you no doubt know, Ruby Rose is bound for Gotham City.

The Orange is the New Black star, who we recently saw in Jason Statham vs. giant shark thriller The Meg, will be playing Batwoman in The CW’s new series, which is shaping up to be every bit as groundbreaking as we’ve come to expect.

Set for her small-screen debut via December’s by-now traditional Arrowverse crossover, that will then be followed by a standalone Batwoman show. Of course, it’s still simmering away in the bowels of development, with Caroline Dries (The Vampire Diaries) and franchise architect Greg Berlanti on board to write and executive produce, respectively, but already controversy has begun to swirl.

In fact, ever since Rose was cast there’s been people criticizing the decision to bring the actress on board, and now, Berlanti has addressed all the commotion in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, saying the following:

“Whenever you’re bringing change about in any form, there are always conversations that happen,” Berlanti said. “I go all the way back to Dawson’s Creek. Twitter didn’t exist, but we would get boxes of letters expressing opinions in all directions from where we making enough change, should we be making more change, or why did we feel like we needed to do these things? It’s always part of the process, so just focus on the story and make the best episode that you can.”

Make no mistake about it, assuming the mantle of Gotham’s newfound protector isn’t something that Ruby Rose is taking lightly, and in a recent statement, she expressed her hope that Batwoman can be a platform for inspiration and diversity – especially for members of the LGBTQ community.

It’s like the third thing I thought about, not only can kids watch this growing up and relate to it and feel empowered and think they can be a superhero, but also I can go on and do these things like visiting hospitals and kids and people in need. It’s a really amazing opportunity, obviously. I’m very excited.

You can look for the actress to swoop onto The CW via this year’s Arrowverse crossover, which will include all the usual faces save for Legends of Tomorrow. And after that? An entire Batwoman TV show set to air at some point in 2019.