After Ruby Rose ‘Batwoman’ Stops Javicia Leslie

Javicia Leslie is a plant person.

This is just one of the things she has in common with Ryan Wilder, the new main character she plays in The CW’s ‘Batwoman’, who takes the mantle as Gotham’s hacked vigilance during the second season of the show, which airs on 17 January will premiere.

And because she’s a plant person, she had an important question about Ryan’s backstory when she accepted the role of ‘Batwoman’: Who took care of Ryan’s plant while she was away?

“Ryan got her aptitude when she was technically an older teenager, young adult,” Leslie said during a video call in late December. ‘But then I’m going to jail for 18 months. Where was my plant? It mattered to me. ”

Even though it was never addressed in the show: “It’s important because a plant is so important to me,” she says.

This is a detail that even the priest Caroline Dries did not consider, but Leslie (33) explains as an actor: ‘You want to know why you do what you do. You don’t just want to do it. ”

These are the types of details that Leslie focuses on as she does the work of inhabiting the world of her character. Only in moments that she walks away are she reminded of the historical nature of her new role.

Leslie was announced as the new ‘Batwoman’ in July after the original star, Ruby Rose, left the series after one season. The series has already broken ground as the first superhero series with a lesbian title character when it premiered in 2019. Leslie’s cast makes her the first black actress to play Batwoman in any live production.

“I’m constantly reminded of what it means to so many people and how it actually has nothing to do with me and everything that has to do with what putting on the suit means,” says Leslie. “The first time I put on the suit, I immediately felt a great responsibility to save the world. Me, Javicia. Not even me as Ryan. ”

And she understands that by putting someone on the suit, “someone will be influenced and someone will feel represented and someone will feel more powerful.”

Like Kate Kane, the show’s original Batwoman, Leslie’s character is lesbian, but this is where most of their similarities end. When Ryan is introduced, she lives in her van with her plant. She has a criminal record, which means job prospects were slim. In many ways, Ryan is the opposite of Kate.

For Dries, who had to come up with a story arc that would not alienate fans for the second season, Leslie’s cast “felt like a coffin.”

‘Javicia came in [to her audition] … and she just hit every note like I had it in my head, ‘says Dries. ‘She hit the comedy beats, she hit the emotional scenes, she swayed, she had defenselessness, she had fun. I wanted to give this character a lot of fun because I wanted to create someone who is a little more aspiring. ”

It’s easy to see Leslie Dries and director David Rapaport’s attention – even during a video call that she’s captivating, thoughtful and funny.

Berlanti Productions’ Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter, executive producers of ‘Batwoman’, were already familiar with Leslie from her work on their CBS show ‘God Friended Me’. Leslie’s also starred in ‘MacGyver’ and ‘The Family Business’ and in the 2019 rom-com ‘Always a Bridesmaid’.

Although she is always interested in acting and art, these interests are considered a hobby and not a viable career. For her mother, who describes Leslie as very supportive and her hero from real life, it was important that her daughter pursue something that could pay the bills more reliably. After studying at the University of Hampton, Leslie got a job for the government in Washington, DC.

“All the time,” Leslie said, “I just thought, ‘It’s not me.’ … That’s not what I wanted to do. I am not a person of 9 to 5. I feel suffocated. I feel small. ”

After her two-year contract at her job, she packed up in January 2012 and left DC. A few months later she was in LA

Leslie cites black characters on Saturday morning as cartoons as the earliest she could tell on television. She also mentions Eartha Kitt as Catwoman in the 1960s “Batman” series and Halle Berry as Storm in the “X-Men” movie series as inspiration.

“Then I realized that we can be in that world and be beautiful and powerful and have an impact,” says Leslie, “and also become the icon for the character.”

While growing up after the Michael Keaton ‘Batman’ movies, Leslie said that Christian Bale’s incarnation of the character had more influence for her. She cites Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning performance as the Joker in ‘The Dark Knight’ as one of the reasons.

“With Christian Bale, I was older, so I could understand acting and what it means to become these characters,” she says.

Leslie was attracted to ‘Batwoman’s’ Ryan, a character created for the show because of her flaws that made her ‘very human’.

“I think there’s almost this idea that superheroes are supposed to be perfect,” says Leslie. ‘They all have something in their past that they struggle with, but you see it as these bright lights. Ryan, she’s been touched more by the things that’s happened in her life, and that’s why she’s carrying the weight, and I think that’s something I connected with her. ”

Dries says she has considered options, such as remaking Kate Kane or finding an existing DC character who could move to the Batwoman role before deciding to continue with an original character.

‘I think some TV shows can get away [recasting], but for us it felt a little bad, ‘says Dries. “So I decided, let’s continue the storyline, but let’s introduce this new character who tackles the mantle of Batwoman, and keep Kate Kane’s legacy in the show and create a mystery to which she leaned in the challenge.”

It was after the cast of Leslie that certain elements of the background story of the character were changed. In early descriptions of the character, Ryan’s past is mentioned as a drug addict.

“After we cast Javicia, I wanted to restructure some of the things in her past to make sure we tell a real and positive story,” says Dries. “To put something good out there that doesn’t feel troop-y or like something we’ve seen before.”

Furthermore, the cast of a new Batwoman had opportunities to pursue storylines that did not work in a program about Kate Kane, such as a critical look at the Crows, the private security firm run by Kate’s father around Gotham to protect in their own way.

“The Crows are basically this growing fascist organization that has no accountability in the city,” says Dries. “They are built for rich people and do not care for poor people. Although we know from the crows what good people are, the institution as a whole is flawed. And I struggled to have a strong position on Kate because it was not really her drama. ”

Ryan, on the other hand, has a history with the Crows so she can take a critical stance. Dries even describes the Crows this season as one of Ryan’s nemes.

Leslie appreciates how the series of issues are approached with nuances, while still being a fun superhero show.

“I like how our program pays attention to what’s going on in society,” says Leslie. “You do not have to feel it being pushed down your throat, but you know it is the reality in which we live.”

According to Dries, Ryan’s journey this season is about discovering that she’s not just a girl lost in the system.

“Ryan Wilder, the person, the citizen, she’s actually the hero,” says Dries. “She doesn’t have to wear a suit to be special.”

But the symbolic power of the suit is still significant, and Leslie recognizes this as the key to opening more doors for representation in the future.

“Now that Ryan’s becoming Batwoman, it feels like it offers the possibility of what it really means to be Batwoman and that it doesn’t really matter who’s down there,” says Leslie. “Anyone can put on the suit and be a hero.

“I just know it’s just the beginning,” she continues. ‘I can only imagine where entertainment is going to make sure superheroes represent everyone. I’m just looking forward to seeing what other kind of superheroes we’ll get from the beginning of this and others such a series. ”