In exciting news, the CW is developing a show about Batwoman. And not just any Batwoman: a Jewish lesbian Batwoman named Kate Kane. As John Paul Brammer reported in them., “Batwoman was established as a Jewish lesbian all the way back in 2006, when she became the first-ever lesbian character to head up a DC comic book title after being reintroduced following a long hiatus.”
This is very exciting, obviously. Jews! Lesbians! Jewish lesbians!
https://twitter.com/rattspeaker/status/1019284889454211072
To Deadline, the CW explains, “Kate Kane soars onto the streets of Gotham as Batwoman, an out lesbian and highly trained street fighter primed to snuff out the failing city’s criminal resurgence. But don’t call her a hero yet. In a city desperate for a savior, Kate must overcome her own demons before embracing the call to be Gotham’s symbol of hope.”
What’s missing from their description? Her Jewishness.
The CW is looking to cast a lesbian actress in the role. But… many on Twitter are wondering: Why can’t that actress also be Jewish? In an industry where so many Jewish roles go to non-Jewish actors, many fans are hoping for Jewish representation on the screen.
apparently for the cw batwoman show theyre asking for a lesbian to play kate kane and not specifically a jewish lesbian and thats :/
— i remade check pinned (@auratipped) July 17, 2018
https://twitter.com/leaxington/status/1019322217371496448
Me watching all the batwoman news where there isn't a single mention of Kate Kane being Jewish pic.twitter.com/9z68VxQlAa
— Chandler (@k_chandlersmith) July 17, 2018
https://twitter.com/femmeivy/status/1019307758515040259
https://twitter.com/damianalghoul/status/1019313446700109824
Many are also hoping for representation in the writer’s room as well, and for the CW not to mess up.
Ok but if cw insists on doing batwoman, they better fucking have at least one lesbian and one Jewish person on the writing staff and preferably a Jewish lesbian ALSO
— Ashley Awesome🏳️🌈 (@groceryfiend) July 17, 2018
it’s sad how our first reactions to the cw developing a show about batwoman/kate kane, a lesbian superhero, are “i’m scared” & “please don’t fuck it up” instead of “i’m so excited!” & “this is going to be great!” because tv (cw) show writers have let us down so many times before
— amy. (@bridgetsrose) July 17, 2018
Is the network that gave us this year’s clusterf*ck of a bad idea crossover gonna remember that Kate Kane isn’t just Batwoman, but she’s also a canon Jewish lesbian hero and that all three of those parts of her identity matter? https://t.co/b7TgweG4Zi
— SapphicScholar (@SapphicScholar) May 17, 2018
https://twitter.com/MichaelF141/status/997220733339172864
But really, the question we’re all asking…
did kate kane ever have a bat mitzvah
— Wonderella.bsky.social (@wonderella) July 12, 2018
Header image via DC Comics.
