Batwoman’s growing cast is being steadily revealed leading into the show’s premiere. We learned Gabriel Mann is playing Tommy “Hush” Elliot and Happy Death Day’s Rachel Matthews will be Magpie. Another has been added and its a big name.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the story in an exclusive on Friday. Rachel Maddow has a key role in the upcoming show. She plays news commentator Vesper Fairchild.
Related — Batwoman: First Look Images of Villains Hush and Magpie
Fairchild is a character from Batman comics – a television and radio personality once romantically linked with Bruce Wayne, like Vicki Vale, Selina Kyle, and so many others.
Vesper was teased in the Arrowverse during Elseworlds but had a relationship with Oliver Queen, not Bruce Wayne. She won’t appear in Batwoman physically. Maddow is only supplying her voice over the radio.
Maddow shared the news on Twitter saying initially “no one’s going to believe this is true.”
I know no one’s going to believe this is true, but it’s true.
I’m “Vesper Fairchild” in the new Batwoman TV show that starts this Sunday night on The CW.
(My character is soooo not me; turns out playing her is one of the most fun things I’ve ever done).https://t.co/LP8PauXvUL
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) October 4, 2019
Maddow is a fan of the comic and has been for some time. She wrote the introduction to the Batwoman graphic novel Elegy by Greg Rucka.
Batwoman’s writer and showrunner Caroline Dries said the following about Maddow’s involvement and Vesper, whom Dries describes as “sardonic” and critical of female superheroes:
“We consider Vesper Fairchild to be the sardonic Voice of Gotham. In addition to Rachel’s interest in Batwoman, we thought she’d be the perfect casting choice because her own hard-hitting journalism wildly contrasts Vesper’s penchant for snark, gossip and criticism of female superheroes.”
Maddow’s “hard-hitting journalism” has come under scrutiny in the past for its accuracy. That includes recent coverage of President Trump and the Russia probe. She’s been a host of her show since 2008.
Batwoman stars Ruby Rose as heroine Kate Kane, cousin of Bruce Wayne. Though she’s playing a lesbian and is one in real life, Rose wants to be known for more:
“I would rather keep getting roles — gay, straight, bi, asexual, who cares — in versatile situations than the idea of just me being gay and playing gay.”
Batwoman is CW’s first openly gay lead superhero and has a passionate love affair that plays out in the first few episodes so Rose isn’t breaking from typecasting yet.
Related — Rotten Tomatoes Score for Ruby Rose’s Batwoman on The CW Revealed
As Maddow said, Batwoman premieres Sunday, Oct. 6th.