Batwoman Season 2 - What We Know So Far

Following a great first season, fans of Batwoman are eagerly waiting for the season 2 premiere. After Ruby Rose's departure from the show and her lead role of Kate Kane, the series found a new lead in Javicia Leslie, who is joining the show a new Batwoman, Ryan Wilder. Rose's unexpected in the summer of 2020 grabbed headlines, with an on-set back injury being held up as a likely key factor in her decision.

Season 1 focused on the rise of Batwoman, with Kane taking down criminals in Gotham City and battling her twin sister Beth (Rachel Skarsten), now known as Alice, the leader of the Wonderland gang. As part of Alice's plan for revenge, the finale revealed that Tommy Elliot, also known as Hush, now has the face of none other than Kate's cousin, Bruce Wayne (Warren Christie). Season 2 will continue these storylines as Ryan Wilder takes over the helm of Batwoman from Kane, who has disappeared.

Just like other Arrowverse series, Batwoman's first season was affected by the production shutdowns of 2020 and ended two episodes earlier than planned, leaving those two unproduced scripts to be reworked into the first episodes of season 2. With a lot riding on the new episodes and the transition to Wilder's story, the return of Batwoman is highly anticipated.

Here is everything we know about the second season of The CW's Batwoman.

Batwoman will be kicking off the return of the Arrowverse to The CW in 2021. The new season will be airing weekly on the channel starting Sunday, January 17. Within the normal schedule of The CW shows, Batwoman and the others would've premiered back in October of 2020, but because of the delay in production due to the pandemic, the new season was unable to go before cameras until early September, as confirmed by the Batwoman Twitter account. After a short pause in production at the end of the month, it started back up again in October (via Deadline).

Thankfully, Batwoman has been able to stay on schedule for their planned premiere date. Other Arrowverse series will follow soon after, with The Flash season 7 premiering on Tuesday, February 23, and the new series Superman & Lois premiering directly after on the same night. There is no set date yet for the premieres of Supergirl season 6 or Legends of Tomorrow season 6.

LGBTQ+ representation was always at the core of Batwoman, and after Rose's announcement that she was leaving Batwoman, the team behind the show made sure to find another queer actress to take over the mantle of the heroic superhero. Enter Leslie, who will play a new character on the show and not be directly replacing Rose as Kane. Leslie, who identifies as bisexual, will be the first Black Batwoman on television, and will continue the show's legacy as the first TV superhero series to have a LGBTQ+ character at the forefront. With Leslie joining the cast, Batwoman's now achieved that twice.

Aside from the major news involving Rose's departure and Leslie's arrival to the cast, Batwoman season 2 will feature the return of all other season 1 regulars, including Skarsten, Meagan Tandy, Camrus Johnson, Nicole Kang, and Dougray Scott. The new season also includes quite a few new additions to the cast. British actress Shivaani Ghai will be playing Safiyah, the ruler of an island called Coryana and its people. She is referenced in the first season, and will likely be the main villain in season 2. Along with Ghai, Leah Gibson and Nathan Owens will be playing The Whisper and Ocean, respectively.

In a leaked character description for Leslie's new character, as reported by Decider, Wilder is said to be "the most dangerous type of fighter: highly skilled and wildly undisciplined. An out lesbian. Athletic. Raw. Passionate. Fallible. And very much not your stereotypical All-American hero." Though Kate Kane will not be in the show moving forward, her character is not being killed off. Instead, she goes missing, and her disappearance will play a big part of the season 2 storyline.

Alice remains a very real threat, as season 1 ended with her helping Hush change his appearance so that he can steal kryptonite to use against Batwoman. Showrunner Caroline Dries spoke with EW about the upcoming episodes, explaining that season 2 will further explore how Alice became the way she is, and that the writers "decided to make Safiyah an intimate part of that" once the new antagonist debuts in the second season. While all that is going on, there will also be some romance in the air for Luke Fox (Johnson) and Kate's step-sister Mary (Kang), setting up a love triangle involving another as-yet unknown character. For Wilder, new to the group, Dries said at the virtual DC FanDome event that she will unite the Kane family — though it might take some time.

Check out the first trailer for Batwoman season 2, and mark your calendars for the season premiere on January 17.