Aussie actress Ruby Rose will again play openly gay superhero Batwoman in a pilot for a TV series starring the character.
The actress made her debut as the character last month in a DC Comics crossover that brought together characters from superhero shows The Flash, Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl on US network The CW.
The episodes aired in the US and Australia in December, but the CW said months earlier a potential spin-off series centered around the character was in development.
Now it’s been reported the network is moving forward with a pilot episode of the series, which if picked up would become the first-ever superhero series to be led by a lesbian character and played by a queer actress.
Batwoman, real name Kate Kane, first appeared in the DC Comics in the 1950s but has been openly gay since 2006 when she was reintroduced as a lesbian of Jewish descent.
“Armed with a passion for social justice and a flair for speaking her mind, Kate Kane (Rose) soars onto the streets of Gotham as Batwoman, an out lesbian and highly trained street fighter primed to snuff out the failing city’s criminal resurgence,” the CW explained of the Batwoman role.
“But don’t call her a hero yet.
“In a city desperate for a savior, Kate must overcome her own demons before embracing the call to be Gotham’s symbol of hope.”
After the news broke of her casting as Batwoman last July, Rose gave an emotional interview to US talk show host Jimmy Fallon about the importance of the role to her.
“The reason I kept getting so emotional is because growing up, watching TV, I never saw somebody on TV I could identify with — let alone a superhero,” she said.
“I live by two mottos, ‘Be yourself, because everyone else is taken,’ and ‘Be the person that you needed when you were younger.’
“With Batwoman, I felt like one motto led me to the other and I just kept crying about it.”
