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There’s a new Batwoman in town. Following Ruby Rose’s shocking exit from the titular role last spring, Javicia Leslie will take on the role of Gotham City’s new masked vigilante for the second season of “Batwoman” on The CW.
The 33-year-old actress, best known for her work on CBS comedy-drama “God Friended Me” and BET crime drama “The Family Business,” will play Ryan Wilder, who is a new addition to the DC Universe.
A former drug dealer who spent years evading the Gotham City police, Ryan has a tragic story: she lost her single mother in childbirth, her foster mother was killed in front of her, and she served 18 months in prison for a crime. she did not commit. Given the scarcity of her job opportunities, Ryan is forced to live in a van by the river, where she finds Kate Kane’s suit. After taking the costume for a test drive, she feels powerful enough to take control of her own life and fight the system that has neglected her for decades.
It’s a dream role for Leslie, whose naturally engaging and thoughtful presence is immediately reflected in her meteoric debut as the first black, bisexual actress to don the legendary Batwoman cape and hood. As a self-proclaimed “super fan” of the DC Universe and Arrowverse, Leslie auditioned for the lead role of Zoom a few months after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I was really, really shocked,” Leslie told NBC News, recalling the day in early July she landed the role. “I really thought, when my manager’s number popped up on my phone, ‘Ugh, I guess I didn’t get it.’ When I answered the phone she said, “May I speak to Ryan Wilder? And I just lost it. I could not believe it; I started to cry. I called my mom and we cried together. “
Born in the city of Augsburg, in southern Germany, to an American military family, Leslie grew up in Maryland and graduated from Hampton University, a historically black university in Virginia, where she also starred in several theatrical productions and began to fall in love with acting.
“I really loved the idea of being able to get away from life and how I was able to really feel some of the pain that I was going through as a person,” she said. “It made me realize how badly I needed to act.
Instead of continuing to act after graduating, Leslie decided to find a more stable job in her early 20s and worked for the government on a two-year contract. Although she found the work meaningful, she said she felt “stifled” and “couldn’t express myself” in creative and rewarding ways. After her contract ended in 2012, Leslie moved to Los Angeles with some income saved to help her change careers, and she has since been committed to mastering her craft for most of the past decade.
In the eight weeks between getting the role and starting filming, Leslie focused on maintaining shape by using her mixed martial arts background and creating the backstory for her character by imagining them. heartbreaking events that happened before Ryan found the suit.
Leslie said Ryan’s character development process was a collaboration with showrunner Caroline Dries, the show’s executive producers and the rest of the creative team, who also made the decision early on to revamp the iconic Batsuit to better suit Leslie.
“It was important that you could see the silhouette of Batwoman,” Leslie said. “I have a lot of muscle tone on my body, and I think it can be difficult to accentuate that. It also helps to show off my curves.
“Creating an Afro was very important, because it was like, ‘OK, if we’re going to do this, let’s do this. If we want to have a Black Batwoman, let’s have a sistah, ”she added. “I think this Batwoman is really strong, and you can see the strength of her looks when her costume is on.
Leslie has championed a diverse portrayal on screen and acknowledged that her new role has the potential to be a game-changer when it comes to diversity in the superhero genre – particularly for black and LGBTQ performers.
“It’s not for me; it’s for everyone who feels underrepresented, ”Leslie said. “I think one of the things that really made underrepresented people feel like they weren’t enough and have to keep fighting so hard to feel represented is because they cannot see each other.
While the response to her casting has been largely positive, there are still social media haters, including some who have criticized the casting of a queer black woman in the iconic superhero role. But Leslie said she didn’t let the haters get to her.
“No one has seen the show yet, so if they have something negative to say they’re usually from a place where they’re suffering from something they’re going through. When I look at it like that, I don’t take it personally at all, ”she says. “This is just one of the many roles that I will play in my life, and because of that, I’m really able to function with my goals in mind, which is just to create amazing content.”
Using an appropriate analogy, Leslie said she saw the situation “as good versus evil”.
“I can’t let evil win because it hurt my feelings,” she said. “It is imperative that the good wins, and the good is finally to see the performance. It’s nice to finally be able to see anyone in the Batworld being black and being queer.
While the introduction of her character will offset some of the established character dynamics, namely the one between Batwoman and villainous Alice (Rachel Skarsten), Leslie teases that Ryan’s personal journey will drive the development of the second season.
“Ryan kind of comes in as a single person on her own mission, and you really watch her change her mindset about what this costume means and what the responsibility of this costume means. You watch her go on this journey to be a superhero, ”Leslie said. “She doesn’t start out as a superhero at all; she just starts out as a normal person going into this business to get revenge on things. As she continues to move forward on this journey, she really begins to realize what this costume stands for, and that’s how she becomes the superhero that Gotham City needs.
The second season of “Batwoman” premieres Sunday at 8 p.m. on The CW.
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