The CW’s version of Gotham may not have had Bruce Wayne around for the last few years, but it has always had the protection of a Bat. And since Ryan Wilder put on the cowl in Batwoman’s second season, the city has a superhero that knows every nook and cranny like the back of her hand. Having experienced what it’s like to be a victim of the system, but also understanding how a loving family can change someone’s life, Ryan displays as much compassion on the job as she does prowess – which is exactly what Gotham needs at times.

The warmth that resides in Ryan is perfectly echoed in her actress, Javicia Leslie, who previously starred in Greg Berlanti’s God Friended Me before becoming a caped crusader. A talented performer onscreen and a philanthropic spirit offscreen, she leads the series by shining example in more ways than one. Given all of the curveballs that the third season has thrown Ryan’s way, she will need to muster all the physical and emotional strength she can to come out on top.

Leslie spoke to Screen Rant about her recent appearance in The Flash’s “Armageddon” crossover, as well as how Ryan is handling Mary’s recent turn to the dark side and her troubles with her biological family when the show returns on January 12.

Warning: This post contains spoilers from Batwoman‘s Season 3 premiere. Read at your own risk.

If Batwoman’s Season 3 opener is any indication, Ryan Wilder’s “Me Season” is not going to go the way she thinks it will.

A huge weight was lifted from her shoulders when she was released from parole, and it seemed like she could finally move forward with a fresh start. But with this birth mother bombshell hanging over her head, it looks like she’s in for an emotional journey ahead.

Sophie confirmed during Wednesday’s premiere that Alice was, indeed, telling the truth. But rather than open Pandora’s Box, Ryan decided to just leave it at that. No need to dig further if she already has her Bat Team as family, right? We don’t know how or why mother and daughter will cross paths, but press photos released by The CW confirm that they do in Episode 2, even though they aren’t actively looking for each other. According to Javicia Leslie, who plays Batwoman, Ryan’s attempt to bury the past is only the beginning.

“The season starts with Ryan realizing that, ‘No, my mom is alive, and she just didn’t choose me,’” Leslie tells TVLine.

The episode introduced Ryan’s birth mother as Jada Jett (played by Robin Givens), a wealthy business tycoon with her own helicopter. She and her son Marquis Jet (Law and Order: Organized Crime’s Nick Creegan) have lived a different life from Ryan, one in which they want for nothing and have everything at their fingertips. When she does eventually get to know her new family, Ryan will contemplate the privileged life she missed out on.

“That creates this really complicated relationship between Jada and Ryan,” Leslie explains. “At the end of the day, every daughter wants her mother, and every mother wants her daughter. Regardless of what they’re going to go through, that still is always going to exist. That’s always going to be an underlying theme in the relationship.”

There’s a moment of realization — and maybe a little concern — in the episode when Jada learns that someone had been looking into her private life. It sets forth a chain of events that will force the businesswoman to start looking inward. “You can’t run from your past… and this past comes walking right into her office,” Givens says. “[It] forces her to take a good look at her past.”

“At one point, [Ryan’s] mom is saying, ‘No, I don’t want you in my life,’ and she’s got to stand there and take it and not be hurt,” Givens teases. “It’s just a beautiful dynamic in the midst of this world that Ryan is dealing with.”

Between her family drama, working with Alice and former GCPD detective Renee Montoya (Gotham’s Victoria Cartagena) to recover the Bat Trophies that went missing in Season 2 and taking on the infamous Poison Ivy, Ryan has a lot on her plate this season. Leslie teases “some plot twists this season” and, hopefully, “a little romantic side of Ryan that we’ve never been able to see.”

Season 3 will also explore the dynamic of the Bat Team and how that can “coexist with her relationship with her family” or, rather, how it becomes an issue. “She starts the season like, ‘I got this,’ and then obviously, there are going to be a few wrenches thrown in her plan,” Leslie notes.

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The Batwoman cast has formed an incredible bond behind the scenes, and it shines through on the show.

The Batwoman cast feels destined to be together. Even before bringing their now iconic DC Comics characters to life on The CW, their careers were meant to cross paths in a way that almost feels magical now. For starters, Nicole Kang, who plays Mary Hamilton, and Camrus Johnson, who plays Luke Fox, had crossed paths in New York City before their careers intertwined during the audition process for Batwoman.

“When I got to the hotel in Los Angeles, Nicole was in line,” Cam explained while recalling his audition process. “We actually ran lines together in her hotel room. So, during the screen test, everyone was having a pretty good time, but Nicole and I were just cackling. We were having the best time together.” That chemistry instantly translated to both of their auditions when Cam mentioned in the room that he knew Nicole, and the next note he was given was, “Do it again, but this time pretend like you are doing the scene with Nicole.” Cam said it felt like the parts belonged to them from the start.

Similarly, Nicole had just come from another Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter produced series, You, when the script for Batwoman landed in her inbox. “Usually I have to do a lot of work to crack open characters,” Nicole said, but this time it was different. “I literally read the description and was like, ‘It’s me.’ I was aligned with Mary from the beginning.” In terms of seeing Camrus during the auditions, she told a similar story, and even remarked how they celebrated booking Mary and Luke when they landed back in NYC.

“We ran off the plane into the gate and were on the floor,” Nicole explained while detailing how the news of their casting had dropped mid-flight. “Me and Cam had this moment at JFK, which had never had a better significance in my life.” Nicole said having Cam by her side has been one of the many gifts Batwoman has given her. “We’ve been together since the beginning. That’s why the chemistry that we have onscreen has been there since day one.”

Meanwhile, Meagan Tandy, who stars as Sophie Moore, and Rachel Skarsten, who plays Alice/Beth Kane, have a birthday party to thank for their connection before Batwoman. “I did this show Reign with Torrance [Coombs], and I always say that Torrance’s final parting gift was giving me Meagan,” Rachel said. “Torrance’s wife wanted to throw him a surprise birthday party, but they lived in a condo, so I offered to host it at my house. I knew Torrance really well, but I didn’t really know a lot of his friends from LA. I wanted to take pictures for Torrance of his friends in their surprise spots, so I have a picture of Meagan hiding behind my couch. How bizarre is that? Now, Meagan is one of the most important people in my life. I had no idea that that woman hiding behind my couch would become my best friend a year later.”

Meagan immediately remembered Rachel from the party, and said it was a gift to have someone she already knew on the cast. “I was so excited,” Meagan gleefully recalled. “When I saw that Rach was cast on Batwoman, I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s Torrance’s friend.’ I went directly into her DMs because I needed a friend on set.” Now, they both consider each other to be like a sister. Rachel even said, “I joke with Meagan that we don’t hang out a ton in person because our shooting schedules are usually the opposite, but I talk to her all the time. Sometimes I talk to Meagan more in a day than I talk to Alex, my husband.”

So, it only feels right that during Batwoman Season 2, Javicia Leslie would join the cast as Ryan Wilder and have already worked with Meagan on Always a Bridesmaid, thus completing this kismet Batwoman family. Of course, Javicia joined the cast in the wake of Ruby Rose stepping away as Kate Kane, but she said the cast was so welcoming from the start, and it helped aid some of the nerves she had in terms of stepping into an established series. “Coming into any cast that has already been established can have its difficulties, but I felt like with my cast specifically they were very welcoming. We all got onto a FaceTime call right when I was hired,” Javicia said. “As soon as I landed in Vancouver, I met up with Cam, and we grabbed some vegan food.”

“Me and Javicia hit it off pretty immediately. We became family instantly,” Cam said while discussing welcoming Javicia into the Bat Fam. Their first meeting also fell on the day Chadwick Boseman died, which Cam said hit him particularly hard. “I’d never met Chadwick, but he always felt like an older version of me, and add in the fact that he was one of the first big Black superheroes. So, I texted Javicia and told her if she wasn’t up to meeting that day, I understood. She responded and was like, ‘No, I think we should meet up even more than before. We need to be there for each other.'”

So, a dinner over vegan food that turned into grieving the loss of an acting idol helped solidify Javicia and Cam’s brother and sister dynamic, which can now be felt in their scenes as Ryan and Luke, especially in Season 3. “There’s a moment this season where Ryan tells Luke to touch her shoulder,” Javicia hilariously teases. “He touches it and I go, ‘It’s cold as ice, baby.’ I don’t know if the writers wrote it and knew how I was going to deliver it, but it was so perfect for a Cam and Javicia moment.”

Onscreen, the cast loved seeing how Ryan fit into their stories in season 2, and things only get better in season 3. Nicole said she’s enjoyed seeing Mary build a friendship alongside Ryan, while she’s also getting to know Javicia. She explained, “I was so grateful that Javicia was willing to go there and jump into this character dynamic.” Meanwhile, Rachel has loved exploring Alice’s love-hate relationship with Ryan alongside Javicia. “So much of the foundation of my character was built on Kate Kane. I liked that Caroline [Dries] and the writers didn’t try to force Alice and Ryan’s relationship,” Rachel explained. “Now it feels so much more organic. I’ve earned a relationship with Ryan and all of these characters.”

Next to Javicia, the Batwoman cast also welcomed in Wallis Day as Kate Kane toward the end of Season 2. Wallis’s casting as Kate proved once again that Batwoman is filled to the brim with great actors who fiercely love these characters. “Telling Kate’s story, especially being a queer character, really mattered to Wallis,” Nicole explained. Nicole, Rachel, and Meagan all recalled going to Wallis’s Vancouver apartment for the first time and seeing that she had mapped out the entirety of Batwoman seasons 1 and 2 on the walls. “You rarely get people that are so invested like that,” Nicole recalled. “Wallis put in so much care and attention. I so appreciate her.” Even though Wallis won’t be in Batwoman Season 3, her short time on the show allowed her to bond with the cast in a lasting way and is yet another testament to the on-set culture the Batwoman cast has built.

Aside from their seemingly match-made-in-heaven castings, what has also aided in the Batwoman cast growing close behind the scenes is filming in Vancouver. Being in a city away from friends and family has allowed them to lean on each other. “Vancouver forces connection and forces family,” Camrus explained. “It’s like summer camp when you have to make friends with the people around you. It’s really nice to have great people around, so when you do get homesick, they can remind you of home and that community.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Vancouver acting community grew even closer because they weren’t able to travel back and forth from the city. This led to Thanksgiving celebrations together and bonding like they’ve never experienced before. “We are who we have,” Nicole explained. “So it’s really easy to walk onto a set or inside a story and believe that those people are all your character has because I think I felt that in real life last year too.” For Nicole, her tight friendship with the Batwoman cast and being away from her family became super important when she lost her uncle, who died suddenly this year. Getting emotional, Nicole recounted how the Bat Fam helped her through such a difficult time and “made the hard days brighter.” She continued, saying, “I was able to go to work and not be alone and go through significant highs and real lows with the cast. Meagan as well lost her mom, and being there for Meagan and being her family were important too. It has bonded us forever.”

The Vancouver atmosphere not only allowed the Batwoman cast to become super close, but they’ve also become good friends with actors on other CW and Arrowverse shows that film in the city alongside them. As Rachel puts it, “It’s a very unique experience being on an Arrowverse show in Vancouver. It’s like having a sibling you can talk about your parents with. No one understands that unique experience the way they do.” Looking outside of the Arrowverse family, Nicole explained that she has become very close with Leah Lewis, who stars on Nancy Drew. The duo first met when they were both auditioning for Mary on Batwoman, then they became roommates, and now they consider each other family.

It has even been wonderful for the cast to reconnect with actors they’ve previously worked with, as is the case with Meagan, who got to reunite with Tyler Hoechlin once Superman & Lois began. “I knew Tyler from Teen Wolf, which I did for a couple of years. That was really awesome. The Arrowverse is such a small bubble when you’re in it too.”

For Javicia, Meagan, and Camrus, the extended Arrowverse family has also allowed them to connect with other Black actors, which has been “so incredibly necessary” and “such a blessing,” according to Cam and Meagan respectively. “It’s hard because Vancouver doesn’t have a huge Black population,” Javicia explained. “So it’s kind of cool to come somewhere and it feels like home. You can come in and connect and not feel like you’re here by yourself.” This feeling of needing a community led to Camrus starting “Black game nights” with actors and crew members from across The CW shows.

“Black game nights are just awesome,” Cam joyfully explained. “I think the first one was me, Javicia, David Ramsey, Eric Seaton, Carl Seaton, Candice [Patton], and Azie [Tesfai]. This year we had a bigger one. We had Olivia [Swann] from Legends of Tomorrow, Erinn Westbrook from Riverdale, Nick Creegan, and so many more. It has been so cool to just be in a room full of Black people playing games. It feels like Thanksgiving or Christmas.” And in case you’re wondering what the go-to games are, the night usually consists of Taboo, Mafia, Blank Slate, or Left, Right, Center.

Meagan said that getting to know the other Black actors in Vancouver has been great because it gives her a place to discuss some of the issues they all experience. She said, “It was nice having other Black women there that understand what the heck I’m saying. They all understood because they’ve experienced it themselves. We’ve all been through it and are going through it, so having that community has been very, very special.” These conversations have also allowed Meagan, Javicia, and Camrus to learn from the Black Arrowverse actors that have come before them, namely Candice Patton and David Ramsey.

“Candice is the first Black female character that truly came out of any of this,” Meagan said. “She’s seen the evolution of how it works for Black women in the Arrowverse. It has been interesting to get to hear from her.” Cam also reflected on following in Candice’s footsteps, saying, “I always tell my friends that I think Candice is the reason that good things happen for Black people in the Arrowverse. She was the first to really stand up and speak out and say that there were things that are wrong. And she still does it.” During her time on The Flash, Candice has been vocal about the harassment and racist comments she’s received from viewers, who have criticized her portrayal of Iris West.

For Javicia, Candice has become one of her closest friends, and she is always there when Javicia needs a pick-me-up. “If we were to ever go to war, Candice would be standing right beside me,” Javicia explained. “She’s very fearless, and it’s comforting to be around someone like that. I admire that.” Javicia sung Candice’s praises and detailed how her journey on The Flash and her fight for representation helped pave the way for Javicia becoming Batwoman. Javicia said, “I will tell you, if Candice hadn’t done it, I don’t know if there would be an Azie or Anna [Diop] or myself after her. Candice’s role proved that there is a fanbase for Black actors in superhero shows.”

This year, Javicia and Candice will get to share the screen for the first time when Javicia guest stars on The Flash. Teasing her time working with Candice, Javicia said, “As close as Ryan and Iris are on the show, it’s probably as close as Candice and I are in real life. It was really fun to be able to bring some of our sisterhood to the actual scenes for our crossover episode. The way we introduced Ryan and Iris is almost like they’ve been friends all their lives.”

For Camrus, David Ramsey has been a mentor since literally day one when Cam and his dad visited the Arrow set before filming on the Batwoman pilot began. David invited them to his trailer for lunch, and that small act of kindness led Cam to do the same thing for new people joining Batwoman. “It made me feel so welcome, and I’ve always looked up to David. Just seeing how to act on a set and what a good, strong lead looks like, especially on an Arrowverse show, was so important for me. When you’re around him, you just want to be like David.”

What’s clear is that when one of these actors achieves greatness, the community is so strong that it affects everyone. The perfect example of this is when Azie Tesfai recently wrote an episode of Supergirl that features her character, Kelly Olsen, assuming the role of Guardian. Camrus and Javicia could talk for hours about their love for Azie’s achievement. “I’m super proud of her. To see Azie’s passion for writing come to life, especially in an episode where Black lives mattered, was so huge,” Javicia began. “It’s very personal for her. She’s been through a lot in her own career, so to be able to write a story that feels reflective, grounded, and true, I think it’s just very important.”

Cam and Javicia both explained that hopefully Azie’s Supergirl episode will continue to lead to even more representation behind the scenes. Cam said, “Azie’s episode did really well and had such great viewership, too. I hope, not only for the CW, but other streaming services and networks see that if you give more diverse voices a chance to show their stories, a lot of people will connect to it and want to hear what that story is all about.” Javicia reiterated that their castings on these Arrowverse shows is only the beginning for representation. “With that casting, you need to make sure you have hair and makeup that reflect that, that can do Black hair and Black skin. You need to have a stunt double, both fighting and driving, that looks like the actor you’ve hired,” Javicia explained. “Our stunt coordinator Marshall [Virtue] was adamant about that. I’ve been on sets where I’ve seen them having to darken the stunt double because they don’t have Black stunt doubles. But on Batwoman, they made sure I was represented in every way possible. It’s a journey. It’s an uphill battle sometimes, but when you’re the first, mistakes are going to be made. You have to have those mistakes so we can fix it for the people that come after us.”

Like Javicia, Meagan, and Camrus’s experiences, Nicole has also found that the friendships she’s been able to grow within the CW family have allowed her to explore representation and activism within the Asian community. She recalled getting close with Osric Chau, who starred on Supernatural and The Flash, and how his initiatives to make Chinatown in Vancouver better have inspired her to get involved with making “lasting change and digging into the community.” She also pointed to Olivia Liang and the cast of Kung-Fu and how seeing their show be such a success is a win for Asian representation on TV. “I feel so proud,” Nicole explained. “When they got picked up for Season 2 and had such a successful premiere, I literally took it personally. I was so happy.”

Between each other and every other Arrowverse show, it’s safe to say the Batwoman cast have formed a bond that will continue to grow as the show keeps going. As a fan, it’s magical to see their offscreen friendships translate to their unbelievable chemistry onscreen. Chances are if you catch the Batwoman cast on set, they are trying to make each other laugh, dancing in the green room, and just enjoying spending as much time together as possible. Batwoman Season 3 will only continue to build upon these friendships that will last long after the cape has been hung up.

Batwoman airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW, and you can catch up anytime on The CW or HBO Max.

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Javicia Leslie and showrunner Caroline Dries preview Batwoman and Batwing’s partnership, the show’s take on Poison Ivy, and more.

Batwoman’s titular hero is returning more confident than ever in season 3.

Last season, the CW superhero drama had to reconfigure its story around a new lead character, Ryan Wilder (Javicia Leslie), who picked up the Batwoman mantle following Kate Kane’s disappearance and spent the entire season wondering if she was worthy of it. Thankfully, that’s no longer a question.

“Season 3 is definitely a continuation of season 2, but Ryan is now firmly planted as Batwoman,” showrunner Caroline Dries tells EW. “She’s confident, she knows her role, [and] her biggest problem now is, ‘I have to clean up this mess I made at the end of season 2.'”

The mess she’s referring to is the Bat team losing track of Batman’s villain trophies in the season 2 finale. As the new year begins, these dangerous items are out in the world and anyone can pick them and cause mayhem — as we’ll see in the season 3 premiere, which introduces a dangerous new version of the Mad Hatter (Amitai Marmorstein). There will be more twists on Batman’s rogue’s gallery as the season progresses.

“How we left off with all of the Batman villain trophies being spread out in Gotham, it brings this feeling of nostalgia because we get to play with these villains that we’ve grown knowing and watching,” Leslie says. “Episode 3 [has] the Victor Fries influence. That episode was my favorite.”

Dries adds, “That was our key goal this season: to create [Ryan’s] own rogues gallery. To [give Ryan] her own personal mess that she created, that’s part of her backstory and history and responsibility.”

Introducing these new villains has affected the show’s tone as well. “The tonal vibe that we leaned to is more of a horror, action-thriller tone. That plays out in almost every episode,” Dries says. “On The Flash, they have metahumans that can do all of these crazy things, so that makes them really challenging villains for the Flash and his team to go up against. With our show, she’s going up against human beings. So how do you still make them feel formidable? How do you still get the scares and the tension? And so it almost ends up leaning itself towards more of a thriller.”

That said, Batwoman isn’t shying away from larger-than-life villains. For example, this season will feature Bridget Reagan (Jane the Virgin) as Poison Ivy, a villain whose plant-controlling powers push her very close to metahuman territory.

“That story is heightened and crazy and pure spectacle as it gets at certain points, [but] it’s a love story,” Dries teases. “She is the big bad, but there are a couple big bads who are being groomed along the way.”

Thankfully, Ryan isn’t facing these threats alone, because Luke Fox (Camrus Johnson), who was previously stuck behind a computer screen, will be joining her in the field as the armored hero Batwing.

“It’s so much fun!” Leslie says of Ryan and Luke’s crime-fighting partnership. “We never really get to see a male and female Bat duo go out there and kick villain ass [on screen]!”

“For Batwoman, having Batwing as her literal wingman has been good. He’s been incredibly helpful, and the Bat team is able to be two places at once, essentially, in the field,” says Dries. “For Luke, it’s great because he’s living out this fantasy of, ‘I actually get to the man who I think my dad wants me to be.’ For Mary [Nicole Kang], who is also part of the Bat team, there’s a piece of her that’s feeling left out. But more so than that is the medical science that backs her concern, which is that Luke shouldn’t be wearing that Batsuit because he is not ready yet. He has some problems that he hasn’t dealt with yet, and you don’t just put on a super-suit and become superhuman.”

But Batwing isn’t Ryan’s only new partner. As the season 3 trailer revealed, the Bat team is being forced to work with Alice (Rachel Skarsten), who was imprisoned but agreed to a White Collar-like deal in which she helps the Bat team round up the missing Bat trophies.

“Alice hates it with all of her heart, but I think to add to it Alice is also going through her own mental trauma, because a lot of what has happened to her in her life has never been dealt with and she’s constantly being abandoned,” Leslie says. “So when they’re going on this journey, obviously Ryan hates it and Alice hates it, but they know they need each other and they’re forced to work together.”

Dries adds: “At the end of the day, she’s a brilliant genius, but never forget she will always be out for herself. Her arc this season is realizing, ‘What if I’m starting to care for somebody else, and what does that mean for my own survival?'”

On the personal front, Ryan is also still reeling from Alice revealing that her birth mother didn’t die in childbirth and is still alive.

“She is not that happy about it because, obviously, knowing that your birth mother is alive means that she chose not to be your mom. I think it’s almost worst to know that she’s alive than to think that she’s dead,” Leslie says. “That ends up being a huge hurdle for her to get over in order to be able to find out what’s really going on. There’s obviously a bigger picture, something bigger happening. Our show doesn’t bring on a character for nothing. There’s obviously something bigger behind the character of Ryan’s mom, but I think that before she can get to why her mom is even in the picture again, she has to get past feeling that she got left, that she wasn’t special enough to have her mom in her life.”

While nothing has been confirmed yet, many fans suspect that Robin Givens, who is joining the show as a powerful CEO named Jada Jet, is playing Ryan’s mother. But only time will tell.

Batwoman returns Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on the CW.

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(CBS) — Batwoman returns October 13th for season three on The CW. The series stars Javicia Leslie as Ryan Wilder aka Batwoman. Robin Givens joins the cast as Jada Jet, the CEO of Jet Industries.

CBS’s Katie Johnston (KJ) caught up with Leslie (JL) and Givens (RG) to chat about the evolution of the show with Givens’ new character. The two also talk about paying homage to Batman and what it’s like to work on the show

KJ— Joining me today to talk all about the action-packed upcoming season, Batwoman herself, Javicia Leslie, and a strong woman off-screen, but who plays a powerful business mogul in the series, Robin Givens. Thank you so much for hanging out with me today! Robin, starting with your new character ‘Jada Jet,’ what do you love about her? And what can fans expect to see from her contributions to the season?

RG— I’m in love with her. I just absolutely love her. She is so powerful, like you mentioned. She runs a major company in Gotham City. The fact that Robin, I get to be a part of Gotham City is really fantastic. I love trying to bring her to life in a special way in the sense that she is a powerful woman, but she’s basically just a mom also. Her Achilles heel, if she has one, would be her children — her two children. Ryan hasn’t grown up with her mom in her life, which was a major cliff-hanger in the last season. I’m not sure Jada is really ready to have a relationship with Ryan. But we see a lot of guilt there; we see a lot of love there. We see—at first—keeping her at bay. The dynamic of their relationship is a special one. She’s willing to do anything to protect her children and I mean anything.

KJ— You mention how exciting it was to be a part of the Gotham world. Were you guys both DC Comics fans growing up? Were you a fan of Batwoman?

JL— I was a huge, huge Batman fan—like—excessively huge Batman fan. So enter the world of Batwoman in this kind of way and—especially Season 3—be able to play homage to Batman through having the Batman Villain Trophies in Gotham and those trophies influencing new villains. So you’re talking about villains influenced by the Mad Hatter, Killer Croc, and by Victor Fries. To be a part of that storytelling is so much fun. I literally feel like a child just doing this imaginary make-believe world, but influenced obviously by a make-believe world I grew up watching and creating in my mind.

KJ— What about you, Robin?

RG— We get to live in it. We get to live in this world. Sometimes we’re doing a scene and you’re saying these words and you’re inside this world and it’s just really cool. It’s so much fun to be able to experience it from inside Gotham City.

KJ— I do want to ask you, Robin, stepping into this character, who is a new character this season. What has the chemistry been like on set for you? How would you describe your relationship with cast and crew?

RG— I am happy, Katie, that you asked that question. It’s so—okay, Javicia. Turn your ears off. I know you’re tired of hearing it. For a second. She has such a major role. She’s Batwoman, she’s the leader on screen, but she’s also the leader off-screen. Whatever the chemistry is on set, it’s so magnificent. We laugh so much. To be able to go to work, and we all know this, to want to go to work and to have fun. Sometimes in scenes we’re crying. The other day we were doing this major scene and Javicia made me break and I’m cracking up with tears rolling down my eyes. It is just such a pleasure, and I think so much of that comes from her. We have Caroline Dries who is our show runner and writer—runs this amazing team, gives us these fantastic words. The chemistry is fantastic. Right now I just don’t want it to end.

KJ— I remember watching an interview with you, Javicia, when you first joined this role, how you felt like it was a family, and you’ve never been more welcomed than this role. That seems still true today.

JL— Yes, yes! And it’s so cool to get new members of our family joining. You guys have all been amazing additions to this family. We all have so much fun together that even when we do Zoom press calls and we’re all there, we’re constantly cracking jokes and remembering thing that happened. It’s a really positive energy and a positive vibe. It does make coming to work fun, but it also makes coming to work easy.

KJ— Javicia, with the introduction of your character last season, what does it mean to you to come back to this show this season and continue the legacy of Batwoman?

JL— It’s amazing! It’s fun! This is the show’s third season, but my second season. They’re all like, ‘Okay, we’re doing this again.’ And I’m like—ahh we’re doing this again! This is really cool, this is really fun, this is really epic. I’m just so excited about this season. This season is so much fun. Like I said earlier, every episode could stand alone. They’re full and they’re colorful and they’re Gotham, so they’re dark and creepy. It’s funny because I’ll see little snippets of movies and it will be a really gory scene of someone’s face getting cut off and I’ll be like—’we did that first.’ I’m proud! We did that creepy thing first. Just to be a part of a show that is so groundbreaking and everyone that is a part of it is so committed to the story and so committed to every element of the story—it just makes it so much fun.

KJ— You definitely get a sense of that when I watched a preview for this season and scenes from episodes that haven’t been released yet. It’s just incredible the connection you guys have on set and everything you’ve been able to do with the show. Is there anything else I haven’t asked you about the upcoming season that you want to include?

JL— I know I’m really excited for the villains. That’s one of my favorite things because, when it comes to anything that has to do with Batman, I love the villains. I’ve actually loved the villains more than anything. And then I’m really excited for this journey Ryan is going on with her mom. I don’t even know what’s going to happen. Robin knows this about me. I can only read the episode that is the episode coming up. I can’t read any further than that because then I start getting confused and making character decisions that aren’t even applying to this episode. So they all may know what’s happening in episode 9 and I only know what’s happening in this current episode that I’m on. I have no idea what’s going to happen with Ryan and Jada. Then, to top it off, we did a scene the other day and Jada did some real crazy thing. I’m looking at whatever happened, and I come back and I look at Jada and I think to myself—I think this as Javicia and I think Ryan thought this too—’Do I really want to be a part of this family? They are crazy!

RG— Katie! You should’ve seen it. She turns back around and goes—‘I don’t know!’

KJ— I love that you’ve been able to incorporate that!

RG— She’s willing to do anything and I mean anything! But, Javicia—just so you know—we have some other history that’s going to be made when you speak of villains in a way. We can’t give it away, don’t you give it away!

JL— I know I’m bad about that.

RG— I think the world will be really excited to see.

JL— I give a lot of—what are they called?

RG— Spoilers!

JL— I give a lot of spoilers so I have to kind of like, reel it in.

Jenna Anderson of ComicBook.com writes…

Batwoman aired its heart-stopping Season 2 finale on Sunday night, and it’s safe to say that it made changes that will impact the series’ Gotham City forever. That was true even through the episode’s final moments, with a moment that seems to tee up a pretty major foe for Season 3. Obviously, spoilers for the Season 2 finale of Batwoman, “Power”, below! Only look if you want to know! The episode ended with the various artifacts from Batman villains washing up in a Gotham river, including Penguin’s umbrella and Mad Hatter’s hat. Finally, we saw Poison Ivy’s vines reach onto the shore of the river and begin to snake upwards.

So, does this mean that the series could be bringing Poison Ivy into Season 3? While there’s no telling at this point, series star Javicia Leslie recently spoke about the scene in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

“So freaking epic,” Leslie explained. “Like literally a lot of your epic Batman villains, we have all of their weapons and they’ve all been released into the river and people are going to find [them] and you’re going to find the effects that these weapons have on these normal Gotham citizens and then becoming like these supervillains, and it’s just going to be so much fun. I can’t wait! I’m excited because we’re about to start shooting season 3 and I can’t wait to read the scripts and to see where it goes.”

Leslie’s comment about Gotham citizens becoming supervillains seems to indicate that we might not get Pamela Isley herself, but there still is a chance that she could factor into the proceedings. The series already acknowledged the mantle earlier this season, proving that she’s notorious enough to make an impact either way.

The idea of Ivy existing within that universe is definitely surprising, especially given how significant and beloved of a character she’s become in the comics, and on animated properties like HBO Max’s Harley Quinn show. Audiences haven’t gotten a live-action Poison Ivy (or even a mention of one) since Fox’s Gotham years ago, and there is still an ongoing push to introduce the character in the movies in some capacity. Given how fast-and-loose the Arrowverse had to play with Batman-related canon years ago, it’s an interesting indication of just how far the TV universe has become — and how fleshed-out Batwoman’s version of Gotham City really is.

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