Batwoman Boss Talks About Ending Season With That Bat-tastic Reveal, Supergirl ‘Cameo’ That Didn’t Happen
The CW‘s Batwoman, despite having to end its season earlier than planned, served up some major twists (and one wild reveal) with its freshman finale.
In the name of neutralizing a hometown football hero who had been victimized by falsified brain scans and become a machetes-swinging brute immune to pain, Batwoman suggested to Commander Kane that they combined forces. But after doing so, as the lights popped back on at a blacked-out football stadium, Batwoman realized that the Crows had surrounded her. And then they attempted to riddle her with bullets, though the Scarlet Knight managed to grapple away to safety (as she does).
Elsewhere: Upon learning that the only known bit of Batsuit-defeating kryptonite had been left with the late Lucius Fox and thus seems irretrievable, Mouse urged Alice to move on and leave town with him. Alice agreed, and even ceremonially burned her Alice in Wonderland book… but in actuality poisoned Mouse, tearfully choosing her vendetta over her brother. Alice later gifted Tommy aka Hush with a face that was not so much “new” but quite familiar, in that he now looks exactly like Gotham’s favorite son, the MIA Bruce Wayne!
TVLine spoke with Batwoman showrunner Caroline Dries about that “accidentally” thrilling cliffhanger and much more.
TVLINE | Among other things, of course, I feel like we just watched a major turning point for Alice. A line has been crossed.
Yes, it really has. Mouse gave her a very clear ultimatum, and Alice from five episodes ago may have made a different decision. But when she has vengeance in her sights, nothing is stopping her.
TVLINE | That was a heartbreaking scene. Great work from both of them (Rachel Skarsten and Sam Littlefield).
Yeah, they were so good in that scene. It was very moving. I was feeling badly for Alice even though I’m like, “You did this, girl!”
TVLINE | I feel as if Jacob, too, has crossed a line. He was looking borderline obsessed with Batwoman in his final scene….
I refer to this episode as “Jacob Wakes Up in a Very Bad Mood.” We’ve seen glimmers of it before, and it ended up being a nice mirror to the pilot. We touched on it earlier in the season, his disdain for Batman and his now-growing disdain for Batwoman. It came to a head in this episode, and it’s a good “ending” for their dynamic.
TVLINE | When Sophie ran out onto the football field, I thought she might yell out, “No! She’s your daughter!” But that’s probably not her secret to tell.
[Laughs] Yeah, I think we would have liked Sophie in the moment, but then found a way to hate her for blowing Kate’s secret. [Editor’s Note: Plus, Sophie doesn’t know for certain that Kate is Batwoman. Only has suspected!]
TVLINE | Turning to “Bruce Wayne,” you have to be very satisfied with the accidental season-ending cliffhanger you left us with.
I know! We are really so lucky. The fact is if we had broken [the season] off at [last week’s] Episode 19, or [the unfilmed] Episode 21, we would have had the same feeling, because we try to end all of our shows with an intense cliffhanger. I would have maybe tried to done a little bit more, cliffhanger-wise, with a romance, but I think we made good headway with Sophie and Julia, and teeing up that their relationship is about to get more complicated.
TVLINE | We knew that in the comic books Hush at times wears Bruce Wayne’s face, but I think the other surprise here — unless you spotted his name in the credits, as I did — is that it’s Warren Christie (Alphas, Motive). Which is such perfect casting.
Oh my gosh, he’s such a good actor. He’s been in some of the shows that I have watched, and when I saw his name come up in our casting sessions, I was like, “Um, hello! Yes, obviously.” And then when I met him, for some reason I was holding the blueprints of the Batcave, so I was like, “Oh, let me show you the Batcave! Here’s where this is, here’s where this is….” We were geeking out over it together.
TVLINE | Now remind me — Bruce has been truly missing for several years. Luke couldn’t find him, and he’s never been presumed dead per se.
Correct, he is just MIA. Luke had a little moment in Episode 3 where Kate is like, “Luke, do you really think Bruce is coming back?” and Luke had to say, “No.” In his mind, I think he’s put it to bed, so this is obviously going to open up all of those stories in his life when he comes face to face with his hero.
TVLINE | What sort of challenges might Tommy face passing as Bruce? Or does he know his longtime rival that well he will kind of skate through?
Well, there couldn’t have been a better person to impersonate Bruce. He’s going to have “the Bruce Wayne experience” — he’s not going to waste a moment of his new lifestyle. But he will face obvious obstacles because the people Bruce surrounds himself with are cunning and wise, and they’ve seen antics like this before. Their guards will be up.
TVLINE | And Tommy does know that Bruce was Batman.
Yes, Tommy does know that Bruce is Batman, and he does know that Kate is Batwoman. That was a story point that we actually didn’t dramatize, but we articulated it at some point.
TVLINE | Have we seen the last of Gabriel Mann as Tommy?
Not necessarily. Nope. He is so fun to work with…. I don’t have anything really in my mind planned, but when you meet a good actor, you find a way to keep working with them.
TVLINE | Other shows on The CW seem to have ended their abbreviated seasons with 19 episodes. Did you just barely get 20 done? Did it take some crafty moves?
We honestly just got a little bit lucky. When I saw the writing on the wall and saw that production would be shutting down, our last day was the Alice/Mouse storyline, and I was like, “As long as we get this in the can, we have an episode.” It’s an important storyline. We ended up dropping only one day of shooting, the way our schedule fell ahead of the pandemic. Losing one day of shooting sucks — I would have loved to have had those scenes in there — but at the end of the day we had a really solid episode.
TVLINE | Your two uncompleted episodes, do think you will keep them intact over the long hiatus? Or might you get restless and tinker…?
When you are a writer and you have time on your hands, you start tinkering and tinkering…. I’m otherwise just sitting around on my iPad reading comic books, so I get a lot of ideas. The one thing writers don’t ever have is time, so when they get it, they think about making changes.
TVLINE | How would you categorize your planned ending for the season, at the end of Episode 22? Would it have been a twist about what was saw in Season 1, or was it a big fat tease for Season 2?
It was a pretty epic cliffhanger, and a huge crisis for the Bat-team. We are still going to use a lot of that, because it’s also a great launch for the season. It works either way.
TVLINE | When Kate told Luke and Mary that she needs Supergirl’s OK to part with her bit of kryptonite, that, combined with the “Previously On…,” had me thinking Kara might show up.
Well, here is one of the COVID setbacks. The frame that Kate swipes the kryptonite out of, that was supposed to be a picture of Kara and Kate. When I saw the cut it said, “INSERT PICTURE OF KARA & KATE.” I was like, “Guys, why is this still in the cut?” They said, “We can’t go and shoot a picture of them together, we’re on lockdown.” So that was kind of a bummer, because I wanted to show that Kate had a picture of Kara in her library, because they’re friends.
TVLINE | Will Kara appear on-screen next season, to give Kate her blessing?
I don’t think so. The way that the Supergirl production schedule is laying out, it doesn’t really line up with ours. We’re just going to have to imply it somehow.
TVLINE | What sequence or episode from Season 1 are you most proud of?
I really liked Batwoman coming out [in Episode 10], and I really liked the train sequence in that episode…. I really appreciate all the stunts that we did, because we tried to make them all feel a bit different. Yes, Batwoman seems to be grappling here and there, coming and going, but we always tried to give a different spin to it. Like in Episode 17, she goes through the spiral staircase, which is really neat. And I really liked the Arkham fight sequence [in Episode 19], which was kind of a one-r which was wide…. In [director] James Bamford’s episode, he had really cool stunts there, and one of the ones I had wanted to do was that Matrix move where the grappling gun is coming at Kate and she bends backwards; I think that turned out well. I’m just really, really proud of our stunts department.
TVLINE | Any last tease about Season 2 (slated to premiere in January 2021)?
It will start from a really shocking place, and continue to be that way as we go.
Want more scoop on Batwoman, or for any other show? Email InsideLine@tvline.com and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line.
It was really great to finally see Bruce Wayne. I expected him to be older, but I was never expecting to see him, even though he’s not really him. Pretty good finale despite not being planned as the finale!
I really hate Jacob. He is so much worse than Quentin lance
Right. Quentin never tried to kill his daughter.
You’d hate him even more in the comics. There not only does he know that his daughter is Batwoman but he helped create her. All the while secretly working to bring down Batman by any means necessary. Then when Kate sides with Batman over Jacob he tries to kill her. His character is a lot worse in the comics.
the real Bruce needs to come back somehow and set his crazy-ass uncle straight, that includes having it out with his cousin Beth/Alice! I mean, Alice gave Tommy Bruce’s face, what the hell is she thinking! Is her plan to kill not just Kate, but also lure Bruce out of hiding to kill him too? can’t wait for season 2 to see how things go down in Gotham!
LOL
I can’t stand Jacob! He’s always blaming Batwoman for everything…UGH! I’m still pissed at him for threatening to declare all out war on her if he ever saw her again. WTH did he think he was? He doesn’t run Gotham! He doesn’t get to decide who stays and who goes!! He gets on my freaking nerves with his attitude!!
As I said in my comment last night, the real Bruce, not the one that Tommy/Hush is playing the role of in season 2, needs to come back and put his uncle in his place and rein in his cousin the mad Alice. Bruce might make a deal with Alice out of guilt for failing her in the past, He will give himself up to Alice and let her expose as Batman to the world aka everybody before subjecting him to torture live and killing him, but only if Alice agrees to spare the lives of Kate, Julia, Sophie, Mary, Luke and everybody in Gotham. In Bruce’s mind, his death will convince Alice and Jacob to let go of the past and stop hating both Batman and Batwoman.
Such a great finale and worked out perfectly. So happy they cast Bruce even if it is Tommy at first. This likely should mean we can see the real Bruce through flashbacks with Kate, Jacob, Luke, Julia, etc. Then eventually the real one returns. Also Warren can now appear on the other Arrowverse shows too, especially with Superman. So happy WB allowed them to use Bruce.
yes, keep the actor warren on as Bruce!
I agree with all what you said
By biggest quibable with this storyline is the need for a Kryptonite bullet to pierce the Batsuit. OK maybe Bruce used some kryptonian tech, but why all the stress about two little pieces of Kryptonite in Gotham when there are huge chunks of it on Supergirl in National City?
Lena created synthetic kryptonite, which i assume us what they had on hand at the DEO… although post crisis may differ from pre crisis on that point…
Then again the DEO is supposed to be a covert operation so how would Luke and Kate even know about the DEO let alone it has a store of kryptonite?
Wait so are we to believe that Warren is playing a younger Kevin Conroy? Didn’t Kate recognize Bruce during Crisis? I’d love to know the story behind a different actor playing Bruce now.
On that Earth in Crisis, Kate was surprised he was so old. That Earth was not at the same time as Kate’s Earth. I don’t remember if time moved more quickly or if it was just further in the future. But, I do remember him being older and her being surprised. Keep in mind too that the entire multiverse was wiped out and imagined back into existence. So, any changes can be explained by Crisis.
Right, I totally get what you’re saying. My fault, I couldn’t explain what I meant correctly. I was just confused as to why they didn’t get Conroy again and maybe just de-aged him a bit. But I guess if Tommy is going to be impersonating Bruce for a while in Season 2 then it was probably easier to cast a different younger actor. The other thing that confused me is how “Bruce” looks so young. I know he was Kates uncle but was he younger than Kates mom? or was Jacob maybe just quite older than both of them. These are just things that run through my mind, not necessarily things I NEED answered. lol
The actor playing Bruce is 44 so he is older than Kate by maybe 20 years if Kate is in her mid-twenties. Jacob Kane is the brother of Martha (Kane) Wayne. Not sure I want to think about how those ages fit in relative to the others.
Kate is currently 30 in the show, and Bruce has been Batman since before 2003 according to the flashbacks in the show, so he’s probably in the same age range as Warren Christie i.e. mid-40s by this point and a good 15 years older than Kate at least.
Bruce Wayne and Kate Kane are first-cousins (in the show, as in the comics). That leaves room for a lot of flexibility in their relative ages.
Different Earth. Remember we had 3 different Supermen on Crisis… he doesn’t necessarily need to look like a young Conroy.
He does need to look like a young Conroy though, because Kate specifically recognized Conroy on sight as Bruce during the Crisis. That said, suspension of disbelief takes care of it.
Hey dumbass (hopefully not too much of a curse for the censors) you realize the show hasn’t aired on the West Coast yet, right?
Why are you already posting finale a synopsis and leaking some spoilers in the story title, so I can’t even avoid them if I wanted to?
Jerk move by someone too concerned with their own career to wait a few extra hours so as not to ruin things for people who just happen to live on the other of the country and have had no opportunity to watch yet.
I hope your boss(s) come across this before you have the moderators delete it.
Relax dude! Recaps are usually posted shortly after they air on the east coast. Maybe you should stay off the site until you watch your show. Just a suggestion. One thing you should definitely do though is not be rude to the editors and writers of the site.
Hey dumbass, Matt is the Editor In Chief. So he kind of IS the boss.
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Hey dumbass, why are you on the internet where you will most definitely be exposed to spoilers if you haven’t seen something yet? Common sense should tell you to avoid the web till AFTER your show airs no matter what time zone you are in.
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Hey dumbass, why don’t you set any email, text, news feed, etc preferences to not display or send you TVLine posts/updates/notifications? Especially if you are worried about spoilers.
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Hey dumbass, the world doesn’t revolve around you. Just because you live in PST doesn’t mean the whole planet has to operate as if they do too.
I used to live that West Coast lifestyle and you just have to learn to avoid certain websites after 5 o’clock. TVLine (and most entertainment news sites) often posts a recap/interview after the east coast airing. And I don’t see anything spoiler-y in the title besides a possible Supergirl cameo that didn’t happen.
Or, and hear me out because I know it may be tricky, you could just NOT click on the link and open the article! that way you don’t have to come on here and call anyone derogatory slurs. My RSS feed doesn’t show the article’s content and neither does the front page of this website, so this one is on you.
Wow, way to curse someone out and reveal you’re too good to just not click on a link. Was someone there holding a gun to your head and forcing you to click on that link? Because I can’t imagine any other reason why you would click this knowing you haven’t seen the episode yet. Well, I mean I do but unlike you, I’m not trying to find away around the forum rules.
The headline didn’t really give anything away. But the headline was enough to tell anyone on Westcoast or that haven’t watched yet not to read if they don’t want spoilers.
WOW!! Who crapped in your corn flakes?
Don’t like spoilers? Here’s an idea….Don’t come on a site that has them.
Chill out!!!
Ok, am I crazy, or did Warren Christie appear on Arrow? Because I thought I remembered being like “oh it’s that guy!” then, but I could be wrong.
According to IMDB he was in one episode in the first season of Arrow. Good memory! He was also in the pilot of Once Upon a Time. Small world up there in Canada.
Shows in Canada, especially Vancouver, seem too pull from the same group of people. You can pick out certain actors starting from X-Files through the Stargates, and beyond.
Fun times. I noticed tonight’s episode was directed by Amanda Tapping!
Aaahhh! I missed that!
Really? They couldn’t photoshop a Kate/Kara picture?
Kate and Kara are The World’s Finest. Accept no substitutions!
I knew something was going to happen with Mouse but I didnt expect Aluce to poison him.
Tommy’s (Hush) transformation to Bruce was a a fun surprise but, unlike Mouse, he can’t mimic voices. What Alice can do with a needle and thread is quite impressive.
I just love Mary. I was hoping Luke took her advice and electrified the bat wig… maybe next season.
We got a long to 2021.
they could just take frames of them from the cross-overs
LMAO. Kate and Kara ARE the substitutes. Batman and Superman are The World’s Finest and have been for decades. These two are just the Arrowverse’s placeholders.
I am quite aware of the comic book… I am referring to the Arrowverse teased take with Kara and Kate that was supposed to take place… so please laugh your A off all you want.
Yes, the picture seemed to be something easy to solve and it would be better than the awkward scene with it is obvious the picture is from Kara but it is not shown. It was so weird to watch that scene, you would think Luke or Mary would ask about the picture. Also, as it is obvious the characters are actually watching the picture (or had seen it previously) Kate is revealing Kara’s secret to Lucius. I mean, Lucius knows Bruce was having the kryptonite for Superman. He also knows there is a Supergirl on the planet. Then, Kate says he is guarding the kryptonite for a friend…under a picture of Kara. People much less clever than Lucius can do the math.
The one thing that is weird here is the “only piece of kryptonite on the planet” stuff when there seems to be a ton of it on Supergirl… same planet.
Lena Luthor found a way to synthesize it.
That’s synthesized Kryptonite, which Kate wouldn’t know about, since she’s probably been a little busy with goings on in Gotham and not up to date on the newest info from National City.
I as WRONG about Ruby Rose’s not being up to the role. She’s given an Emmy award winning performance all season. A butch lesbian like Kate remarking so casually like a lipstick lesbian to have football explained to her tonight was brilliant and played to perfection by Ruby. The only reason I graded the season a B is because of the overemphasis given to Alive all season long. Enough Alice already, move on (same with Supergirl and Alex, Batwoman is not The Alice Show). Otherwise, a surprising show that was one of tv’s best rookies that season. BRAVO!
The show is well cast. I too like Ruby very much… a lot of people give her unfair flack… she is Batwoman…
Rachel Skarsten is absolutley fabulous as Alice!
My only complaint about Skarsten is that they weren’t able to use her to reprise her role as Black Canary with Ashley Scott’s Huntress during Crisis.
I was wrong about the whole show. I originally hadn’t planned on watching it, but it’s become my favorite Arrowverse show. But Alice is one of the reasons why — best villain out of all the DC shows IMHO.
Is it now canon that Sophie *knows* Kate is Batwoman? It’s explicit that Julia knows, but I thought it was left that Sophie only had suspected Kate is Batwoman but Kate came up with ways to deflect that suspicion, and I don’t recall Julia ever even hinting at it to Sophie, so where is Sophie now on the knowing-not knowing scale?
Nah, we both just got a bit lost in the fun of the interview. Not canon. A note has been added abovewards to save others from crippling confusion!
Gotcha, thanks! I was afraid I had missed something, because Sophie is smart and intuitive and there are a LOT of coincidences around her, Kate, and Julia!
I was shocked by just how emotional I felt when Alice poisoned Mouse! That was such a well delivered scene!!
A really great finale – ESPECIALLY considering it wasn’t supposed to be. I’ve genuinely enjoyed watching this whole season!!
Me too, specially considering I am not such a fan of Alice and Mouse, but Mouse really deserved much better. And he had such a tragic life. I was very sad for him. And the actor was very good.
I am so surprised to finally have both Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne casted in the Arrowverse. Who thought it would be possible 8 years ago when Smallville didn’t even show Tom Welling in the suit and couldn’t even pronounce the name of Batman. I don’t know the actor but he looks the part and fits agewise. My concern was to have an actor younger than Stephen Amell. I am sorry to say that but the only actors who doesn’t fit is Tyler Hoechlin. He is a great Superman and a great CK but next to Lois, Kara, Bruce, Oliver he looks way to young. Tyler as adult CK looks young than Tom Welling playing a teenage CK lol. But that won’t stop me from watching Superman. I hope the next crossover live up to the hype of all crossovers and maybe they will tell flashback stories of Superman/Batman relationship and why Bruce left?
Back on Batwoman : why Luke doesn’t want to admit that Batman and Superman knew each other? And how can he be suprised that Kate knows Supergirl? He must have got his pre-crisis memories restored or at least been told how BW and SG fought together at least twice in the past few years?
First year of Batwoman was good, Alice is a good villain but the rushed finale lacked of the big battle between the two. I need more time to get invested into the characters, except Mary that I already love. Can’t stand commander Kane thought. After the Arrow angst again vigilante and the public knowing they saved the world, it is not believable that he hates all vigilantes…Quentin Lance back in the day had good reason as Oliver was the first one, and he was killing. Now it has been a least a decade if Batman appeared before the Arrow, Kane should get use to it…Anyway 2021 can’t come soon enough!!!
Inconsistency is a bit of a problem across the Arrowverse post-crisis, they are playing a bit fast and loose with certain points of continuity.
DC are also rather inconsistent, you mentioned all the rules imposed on Smallville and also on the Arrowverse (no Harley Quinn, Deathstroke and Suicide Squad both used and then pulled) but even when Smallville was on Birds of Prey had no issues mentioning Batman over it’s brief run, and also had the same Bruce Wayne MIA storyline
it’s gonna be difficult I think next season with Ruby Rose out as Kate :s I mean obv. you gotta still pick up from where S1 left off storyline wise cause not everything was dealt with so I wonder how they’re gonna address that in S2…if the Alice/Beth storyline had been kinda tied up, where she’s not gunning for Kate etc. then they probably wouldn’t have such an issue carrying on with someone else under the hood, Kate could’ve left to have some time to herself after everything that went down with her sister & that would’ve worked out fine but that wasn’t the case here. Alice wants to kill Kate & if Kate just magically up & disappears where does that leave everyone?? Either way it’ll be interesting for sure to see what they do moving forward, do I think the show will be the same without Ruby Rose, no I don’t….she’s just such a central part (obv) of the show, not only is she Batwoman but she has soo many personal connections too, there’s Sophie, Julia, Mary, Luke, her dad, I think it’s gonna be strange personally :(