Javicia Leslie has a message for fans campaigning to #SaveBatwoman

Rainbow Crew is an ongoing interview series that celebrates the best LGBTQ+ representation on screen. Each instalment showcases talent working on both sides of the camera, including queer creatives and allies to the community.

Next up, we're talking to Batwoman star Javicia Leslie.

Back when Javicia Leslie first joined Batwoman at the start of season two, we declared that "she's the Batwoman we need right now". And that's just as true today still, despite the show's recent shock cancellation.

As Javicia pointed out in a post following this announcement: "There is something about seeing someone who looks like you that makes [your dream] more tangible". Clearly, seeing Javicia as Batwoman spoke to the dreams of many watching back home because the fan campaigns to save this show have been more driven than even Ryan Wilder herself.

Digital Spy caught up with Javicia post-Batwoman to discuss Wildmoore, the #SaveBatwoman campaign, and how this show opened new doors for queer Black superheroes onscreen.

Following Batwoman's cancellation, has there been any particular fan response that's really stood out to you or moved you?

It's honestly hard for me to choose. I'm very taken aback by all of it. Obviously, the most is now, because with this show coming to an end – there's so many people that this show represented, that really love to see these stories played out.

So what they've been doing to get the attention of the studios and networks is that they've been putting up billboards all across the country.

I've been randomly getting these messages with a billboard that says "Save Batwoman" in New York and Chicago and all the major cities.

So more than anything, regardless of what happens from it or comes from it, it's showing me how important this story was, and how important this character was, and how important these relationships were.

What would you say now to these fans who are campaigning for the show's return?

Just that I hear you and I see you. What the show means, and what the character means – it's being able to finally see yourself.

It's never been done. We have not had a female Black lead as a title for a superhero show. We just haven't had it yet. And to top it off, she's also gay, and I think that's just such a beautiful combination of diversity, in a way where you're able to really represent a vast community of people that have not been able to see themselves.

So my words to those fans are: I see you. You may not have felt seen before, but because of this role, and, honestly, just because of what I've experienced and my own understanding and my own experience – I see you.

If Batwoman was saved, what would you hope to see happen in season four?

Obviously, the fans would love to see more Wildmoore, which is Sophie and Ryan. I think Meagan and I would also love to continue to play that love story. We'd love to see Mary and Luke maybe spark something.

I also would love to see what's going to happen with Alice. What we were blessed with was the ability to create a beautiful finale that, whether we came back or not, is very satisfying for all of us.

Alice going off into the abyss as a person that has regained herself and her identity and, honestly, her sanity – I think it'd be beautiful to see where she is, even if she ended up back to being the same old Alice.

It's such an interesting journey to have been able to experience. And the actress, Rachel Skarsten, has done such an amazing job playing every part of Alice and Beth.

With these fan campaigns going on, are you still hoping for the show to be saved, or are you at a point now where you're looking ahead to other projects instead?

I'm just very present. I can't speak for anything outside of literally this conversation when it comes to that part of my life and career. It's just, it's so abundant. And it has been so abundant that it's more exciting to just stay present, and allow whatever's supposed to happen, happen.

If it came back, if the fans are able to bring it back, I would just be as excited to do it. And if it doesn't come back, I would just be as excited to move onto a new character.

I'm young in this specific industry, and I have so much that I haven't done yet. I'm never going to play any one character for my entire career. So when it's over, it's over, and it's time to move onto something different. But if it's not over, I'm also OK with playing with it for a while longer.

So either way, I'm fine.

What doors has Batwoman opened up in this industry?

The cultural movement that came after Black Panther; what that movie showed was how there is a space for Black superheroes and Black comics.

And so coming on the heels of that as Batwoman, we also showed that there's a space for it in television. There's a space for it to exist once a week, every week, and there's a community for it. And that community doesn't all look like Ryan.

That's what I love about Ryan. She has so many boxes that she checks. It allows the community not to have to look like her. It's just all about her. Like, I've had conversations with fans that have grown up in the foster care world, and I've had fans tell me something else that's very similar to Ryan that equates to their life.

So the doors that were opened from Batwoman were really doors to show the higher-ups – the bigwigs – that there is a space for Black superheroes. There's a space for women superheroes. There's a space for gay superheroes. There's a space for all of us. And let's continue to show that diversity.

I think that our network did an amazing job. A lot of people don't know this but there are so many things behind the scenes that can keep a show on air. A lot of times, it doesn't have anything to do with what we think it has to do with.

So, with that, I applaud and commend the CW and WB for deciding: "You know what? Instead of recasting and putting a Kate Kane character in there, which sometimes can always feel so weird if you're a fan of the show, let's bring in a character that we haven't heard a voice from yet."

To be able to be that character in this part of my career – honestly, it's such a beautiful platform to stand on.

Looking back, is there a moment of queer representation onscreen that really spoke to you for whatever reason?

Since I've been in my 20s and 30s, I grew up in a space where I was able to see a lot more queer representation on TV, so it didn't feel abnormal to me, as much as it probably did to my parents or my older brother.

But honestly, one of the dopest stories I saw told was the first and second season of Pose. That first and second season, honestly, I got lost in that story. The characters were so authentic, and I felt like I knew them. I'm from Maryland, and a lot of the balls happened in Baltimore and Jersey and New York. So just to get a glimpse of the inside part of that world…

I'm in a programme right now, and each week is a different gateway. We just left the gateway of dance. And studying the gateway of dance, it talks about how our people expressed themselves fully through dance. There was this one scene in the 1986 Shaka Zulu series, where one tribe was fighting another tribe, but the never actually fought or killed. Instead they danced against each other.

The balls were so important because you got to see that same energy. It didn't have to be like: "My dislike for you, or whatever it may be, has to evolve to me actually physically touching you or hurting you or killing you or anything like that."

It became: instead of even going there, I would put on a gown, and I would get fabulous, and I would walk the runway, and I'd slay, and I would dance, and I would do other ways to express myself. To me, that was so powerful and so beautiful.

Pose is one of those shows that I wish could have gone on and on and on, and I could just tune in once a week, and get all my girls, and keep them moving.

What would you like to see more of in queer storytelling moving forward?

I grew up watching Grey's Anatomy in the last 10 years of my life, and it was so beautiful to be able to see the story of Callie and Arizona truly play out. We'd never seen two women – and honestly, two somewhat feminine women – really be able to show that dynamic.

As a woman operating in our queer community, we try to find where our identity lies, and we get so used to the feminine/masculine relationship. Even if we're attracted to other feminine women, we feel like: "Oh, that doesn't make sense, though. I have to get more of a masculine-presenting woman, because that's what I'm supposed to do."

I think that love story kind of showed that there was no such thing in that relationship as who wore the pants. It felt like they both kind of alternated between the two.

Even though people are trying to figure out who wears the pants between Sophie and Ryan, I do still feel like regardless of however long the story went on, you would always see it going between the two of them.

That was really beautiful, and I think that is truly something that I would love to see continue in stories: showing two queer women that don't have to present specifically as masculine or feminine. They can just exist, and maybe that flows with however they feel that day.

Absolutely. That binary can be so outdated, in so many ways.

There's something very beautiful, obviously, to me, about the divine feminine and the divine masculine. I think it's beautiful to be able to tap into that. You don't have to pick which one. You don't have to say: "Alright, now I'm tapping into my divine feminine. Screw my divine masculine – I'll never tap into that for the rest of my life."

I just don't believe in that. I tap into my divine feminine, which is very nurturing and motherly and feminine, and then I tap into my divine masculine, which is the one that likes to pick up guns at gun ranges, and shoot, and practice my Muay Thai and things like that. It just shows how much of a flow all of that can be.

What advice would you give to young queer people who are still trying to find their place in the world?

Just take time with yourself – just in general. Obviously, I'm speaking to our queer community, but I'm also just speaking to anyone. It's just really important to take time to yourself. This world is a matrix. It will swallow you up if you don't realise that you're living on your phone, you're living on your electronics, you're living outside of your own being.

And so I would say: take a break. Put the phone down. Go out into nature. I don't care if you're religious or not – nature is the most spiritual space you can ever be in, and it can teach you so much about the world.

And if you can't step outside, turn on your television and put on a documentary. It'll show you that you are not alone.

I think that's the scarier part in growing up – it's the feeling that you're alone. And you're not. And feeling that sadness will follow you everywhere – and it won't. You have to find a way to be strong enough to break out of that bondage that you sometimes put yourself in because of how you think the world views you.

But what you see isn't real, right? What you see is only what your perspective is. You just have to open up your perspective. And there are so many people that are standing around, with their arms wide open, waiting to embrace you. You just have to look to where they are.

Sometimes they're not right in front of you. Sometimes they're outside of your neighbourhood. Sometimes they're outside of a television show that you watched. Sometimes they're outside of the social media that you follow. You just have to look.

When you truly look inside first, and you’re working there first, that world will track itself to you. I really do.

What does the future hold for you now after Batwoman?

Rest. Rest has been huge for me. We went non-stop on Batwoman. We didn't really get a break. And then right before that, I did God Friended Me. It's just been kind of non-stop the last four or five years.

I bought my place a few years ago. I still haven't lived in it [laughs]. I just want to go home. I'm in Vancouver now, shooting a film. And I look forward to going home and tending to my garden, cooking for my family and my partner and my mom, and taking my dog on hikes, and just spending time with nature, and spending time filling my cup up.

I gave a lot of myself over the last four years, and I just look forward to kind of filling my cup back up for the next part I'm going to play.

Batwoman airs on The CW in the US and E4 in the UK.

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David Opie

After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival. 

In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.

David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.

Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends. 

As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound. 

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