The CW Cancels Problem-Riddled Series After 3 Seasons

The CW has canceled a major, and problem-plagued, series after just three seasons. Slash Film reports that Batwoman is not coming back for Season 4 at The CW, with showrunner Caroline Dries taking to social media to confirm the news. “Just got the sad news that Batwoman will not be seeing a S4,” she said in part. “I am bummed, but full of gratitude.” The Batwoman writer’s room also issued a comment, writing on Twitter, “It was a fun ride and you made it so much better by our side.”

Slash Film notes that Batwoman has been “plagued with controversy” pretty much since it began. The show initially featured action film star Ruby Rose as Kate Kane/Batwoman, but she left after the first season. In her exit, Rose made very troubling accusations about the on-set production safety and claimed that co-star Dougray Scott behaved inappropriately. A WB rep later categorized these allegations as “revisionist history.” After Rose’s exit, Javicia Leslie took over the titular role as Ryan Wilder, “a former criminal who takes on the Batwoman persona after Rose’s Kate Kane’s disappearance.”

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Earlier this year, Leslie sat down with the Today show for a virtual interview, and she spoke about how monumental her casting was. “I’m the first Black Batwoman after there was an actress playing Batwoman,” Leslie told the morning show. “So this beautiful blessing kind of came from a need for a new actress to play the character.”

Speaking more about the character, Leslie — who is bisexual — said, “The amazing part about Ryan, there are so many different communities that she represents just in her existence. She’s gay. Yeah, she’s Black. She’s a woman. She’s also a foster kid. I’ve met so many people that will come to me and say, ‘This part of Ryan is just like me and my life,’ and to me, that right there is just an honor and it makes everything that can seem hard or challenging worth it.”

“It’s amazing because I know that those kids aren’t yet able to explain what this means to them,” Leslie later added. “They’re just living and they’re just seeing it and they think it’s normal. I love that they think seeing Black superheroes are normal because it wasn’t for me. … And what I hope is that it’s not just one Black superhero show existing at a time. We can have several of the Black superhero shows just like we have several of other superhero shows existing at one time. There’s room for more than just one of us.”