It’s fitting that Ruby Rose’s wig as the title character in “Batwoman” is ruby red — but it won’t be seen on her version of the superhero until Episode 3, executive producer Caroline Dries said Sunday at the Television Critics Association summer press tour.
“That’s gonna come up in Episode 3, when she really embraces her role as Batwoman,” Dries said. “She puts on that suit — as we can see in the pilot — because she’s trying to scare her enemy. She’s not necessarily trying to become Batwoman; she’s just trying to disguise her identity and be a fearful opponent to her nemesis…It’s an origin story, so it’s a gradual realization to ‘Oh, actually I’m gonna keep my own identity.’”
Rose was first seen wearing the wig — along with the rest of the Batsuit — when her character was introduced to the “Arrowverse” in a December 2018 crossover episode of “Supergirl” called “Elseworlds.” In the first two episodes of the “Batwoman” series, the Batsuit appears as it was worn by Batman — the wig is added later, when the suit is modified to fit Kate Kane, completing her transformation into Batwoman.
Rose wouldn’t reveal how many episodes in which the wig will appear, but she did explain her thoughts on it.
“It’s the character. I think that Kate Kane made a decision that she wanted people to recognize that if there’s a bat in the sky, they weren’t gonna confuse that bat with Batman,” she said. “That’s her changing that identity so people don’t think that. I don’t think they have wind in the comics, so it’s not as troublesome to Batwoman as it is to me on a rooftop.”
Rose also said the producers and directors were receptive to her instincts about what Kate Kane would or wouldn’t do.
“Now that we’ve done a couple of episodes, they kind of come to me to say, ‘This is an idea that I had reading the script, but what would you do, or what would Kate do in this situation?’” Rose said. “There does come a time when you’re four, five, six, seven episodes in when you really know your character, and sometimes you just see something on paper or in costume and you just get protective, you know — ‘She wouldn’t say that!’ in the nicest possible way.”
Calling “Batwoman” a “legacy piece,” Rose acknowledged that the character will likely go through more incarnations and be played by other actors in the future.
“I’m sure there are going to be many other versions after this,” she said, joking that, “When I’m 60, [I’ll say] ‘Hey kids, I was Batwoman!’ and it’s like, ‘Whatever, Selena Gomez’s granddaughter is Batwoman now.”
“Batwoman” premieres on Sunday, Oct. 6 at 8 p.m. on The CW.