Rachel Skarsten Joins ‘Batwoman’ Cast As Red Alice
Ruby Rose’s Batwoman has found her arch-nemesis, Rachel Skarsten of “Reign” fame joins the latest DC pilot to play “Red Alice”, Deadline reports.
Ruby Rose plays Kate Kane, alias Batwoman, Bruce Wayne’s cousin and army veteran who fills in as Gotham City’s protector after her cousin goes missing. Standing in her way is Rachel Skarsten playing Red Alice, the leader of the “Wonderland Gang”, who may have a deeper connection to Kate than they both realize.
This isn’t Rachel’s first experience playing a DC Comics character, one of her earliest roles was as Black Canary in the short-lived Birds of Prey TV series in 2002. Birds of Prey was considered a critical and ratings failure at the time, especially when compared to fellow DC show “Smallville”, but it has gathered a cult following among comic book fans.
Red Alice is a relatively new comic book character when compared to the likes of The Flash, Green Arrow, Supergirl and even Batwoman herself, all of whom trace their origins to the silver age of comics. She first appeared in the pages of the August 2009 issue of Detective Comics, where she rapidly became a fan favorite.
It’s not known yet what the writing team will do with Red Alice’s character arc, but they sure have a lot of great source material to mine from.
Is Red Alice genuinely reformed? @comicosity has your exclusive preview of BATWOMAN #39: http://t.co/Xa2SYtNYng pic.twitter.com/wJHWyPi61C
— DC (@DCOfficial) February 13, 2015
The Caroline Dries written pilot will begin filming in March with regular Game of Thrones and Arrowverse director David Nutter set to direct.
The cast also includes Camrus Jonson as Luke Fox (Lucious Fox’s son who later becomes Batwing in the comics), Nicole Kang as Mary Hamilton and Meagan Tandy as Sophie Moore.
The pilot is getting a lot of hype ahead of its release as it’s not only a new Batman show ready to fill the void Gotham left behind, but it’s also the first DC Superhero TV show starring an LGBT character, played by an LGBT actor.
Comicbook.com reports that the role means a lot to Ruby Rose herself, who jumped at the opportunity to “be the person that [she] needed when [she was] younger.”
“I feel like the reason I kept getting so emotional was because growing up watching TV I never saw someone on TV that I could identify with, let alone a superhero.”
Fans got a sneak peek of Batwoman in action when she was featured on Elseworlds, part of a yearly tradition of Arrowverse shows crossing over for one multi-episode storyline. Her introduction also showcased this universe’s version of Gotham City and Arkham Asylum.
