Batwoman is breaking new ground as TV’s first out lesbian superhero lead with Kate Kane (Ruby Rose). And the new Arrowverse series is going to highlight that fact by leaning in to romance in the first season.
While speaking with a small group of reporters at the 2019 Television Critics Association summer press tour Sunday, Batwoman executive producer Caroline Dries told EW that despite Kate being in a complicated on-again-off-again relationship with closeted Sophie (Meagan Tandy), she’s going to date around and have a full romantic life.
“Yes, that is to me what’s important about this character is that she’s like Oliver Queen,” Dries says. “[He] dates left and right at the beginning of that show before he and Felicity [Emily Bett Rickards] settled down. We didn’t want to neuter Kate. She’s in this complicated relationship with Sophie because it’s an intellectual past relationship but to me what makes part of her character is that she has girlfriends. She goes on dates.”
While Dries isn’t able to give any additional details on who these girlfriends and romantic interests will be, she did reveal that they’re all going to play an important part in Kate’s journey toward becoming a superhero. “They will add to Kate’s blossoming as Batwoman as she’s realizing it’s hard to juggle personal and superhero,” she says.
While Batwoman is the latest addition to the Arrowverse, this isn’t Dries’ first time in an extended TV universe. She was an integral part of creating The Vampire Diaries universe and she’s carrying some important lessons over to Batwoman from her time on that previous CW series.
“The biggest thing that I learned is that Kevin [Williamson] and Julie [Plec] have such high standards for the writing so when somebody pitches a cheesy beat, I feel it in my bones of, ‘That is garbage TV that you’re pitching right now,’” Dries says with a smile. “So because they had such a high standard, I recalibrated what my taste was so I hope that I can put that into this show. But that’s the biggest thing logistically speaking and then creatively the love triangles, just creating strong emotional moments. The act might be this huge epic action thing but nobody cares if it’s not rooted in a really cool, emotional beat.”
Dries previously told EW that she was particularly excited to explore Kate’s romantic side on Batwoman. “One of the things I love writing regardless of genre is the romantic elements of the show,” Dries said. “For Kate, a big part of her identity is her personal life, obviously, and what she’s doing when she’s not Batwoman. One of the things she’s going to figure out pretty early on is, ‘Oh, I now see why there was no Mrs. Wayne.’ It’s because it was very hard to be the hero of Gotham and have a love life. So her personal life will have its due time on screen, and she’s trying to grapple with ‘How do I be Kate and also be Batwoman?’”
Batwoman premieres Sunday, Oct. 6 at 8 p.m. on The CW.
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