New Batwoman Star Javicia Leslie Describes Role as a Dream Fulfilled

Former God Friended Me star Javicia Leslie is stepping into the title role of Batwoman for Season 2, and it's "literally like all my childhood dreams come true."

"When I first put the suit on, I got a little emotional," Leslie says in a just-released featurette (above). "I've never seen a black person in a Bat-suit, so to see someone in that, and it'd be me, was really dope."

Leslie is playing Ryan Wilder, an itinerant, frustrated, orphaned ex-con who stumbles across former Batwoman Kate Kane's lair and takes on the identity to give herself some agency in a life where she feels powerless.

"When you think of Batman and Batwoman and Gotham, and anyone that ends up being able to don the cape and the cowl, they've been people of prestige, and she's not that. She's the girl next door. She's a regular person."

A regular person who still can fight crime and pull out some sweet moves.

"She's badass. Fun and goofy, very authentic, very original," Leslie says. "It doesn't feel like I'm just filling someone's shoes. It feels like we've created our own Batwoman."

Batwoman airs Sundays at 8:00 PM on CW.

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Andy Hunsaker has a head full of sitcom gags and nerd-genre lore, and can be followed @AndyHunsaker if you're into that sort of thing.