Javicia Leslie is preparing for her next battle.
“Every single time, I’m just like, ‘How could this be work?
This is so freaking cool.
Nino Muñoz for EW
For real, this is my life?’
I get to just keep flying around and beating people’s butts.
It’s just so much fun!”
Nino Muñoz for EW
Despite its heroine’s impenetrable suit,Batwomancouldn’t avoid being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Production on the first season shut down in March 2020 with two episodes left to film.
Thus,the show’s 20th episodebecame its season finale.
Nino Muñoz for EW
Thus, Leslie’s Ryan Wilder was born.
They didn’t have money, but they had each other, which is all Ryan ever needed.
But, this is a superhero story after all, so tragedy eventually struck, thwarting Ryan’s happiness.
Katie Yu/The CW
Sometime later, Ryan got arrested for a drug crime she didn’t commit.
ButBatwomanpushes the Bat mythos forward by making RyantheBat hero; she’s not playing second fiddle to anyone.
“At the end of the day, the character of Kate Kane is important.
That’s always going to be the first Batwoman and it should be.
“Every day, I feel that pressure and I don’t look at it as pressure.
And so this happens and it makes a difference.”
“That play changed my life because it made me realize that I needed acting.
I needed it because it gave me a reason to cry, to laugh, to dance.”
After graduating in 2009,Leslie returned to Washington and took a job with the U.S. Army.
Her experience with the military chain of command affects how she approaches acting, too.
“I tend to say ‘yes, ma’am’ and ‘yes, sir’ a lot.
And people will say, ‘Don’t do that.’
And I’m like, ‘I’m sorry, I’m a military brat.
This is how I know how to communicate with people.’
It’s my way of respecting people.”
When she moved to L.A., she skipped nights out with friends to save money for her acting classes.
And it eventually did.
“His work ethic.
That’s something that I take with me as a lead of my show.”
For his part, Hall was equally impressed by Leslie well-roundedness.
“She keeps herself in balance.”
Like your typical superhero, Leslie has experience juggling dueling identities.
“I call her little Chaka Khan because she’s every woman.”
“There are healthy people that just like to move, but Javicia goes beyond.
She trains as if she’s training forsomething,” says Brown.
She didn’t even know it.
When the opportunity came, she was already in peak shape to step in.”
That question ultimately led to the creation of the passionate and defiant Ryan.
“The idea of legacy certainly gave me confidence this was possible,” says Dries.
Dries found that person in Leslie, whose immediate connection to Ryan Wilder blew her away in the audition.
“It was like the character was oozing out of her so naturally.
She nailed the comedic timing, which we purposefully put in the audition [sides].
You could just tell she was Ryan,” says Dries.
Leslie’s work ethic also impressed Dries when they sat down to discuss the expectations of being No.
“Her response was, ‘Oh yeah, I never had a day off in the last five years.
I’m working on two different shows at once.
I’m always working.’
Or working out, or taking care of her body or meditating,” says Dries.
“I was like, ‘Okay, she has the work ethic of a number one.
She can do this role.
At first, Ryan views the suit as a way of reclaiming her power after years of feeling powerless.
When the cameras started rolling, Leslie infused Ryan with some of her own goofiness and lightness.
But it really felt like I needed to bring a little bit of who I am to this.”
It all links back to her being born to play this role."
Having the iconic Bat symbol on her chest made her question simple things like posture.
I wouldn’t say it was a bit of a learning curve.
I think it was a bit of a trusting curve.
It’s a bit of trusting that you’re enough."
To further immerse herself in playing Batwoman, Leslie is also performing the majority of her own stunts.
“She was shooting up and she just had this big smile and started laughing.
And they didn’t say cut yet.
[It] was like, ‘Javicia, you’re still Batwoman!'”
“But you could just [see] this little Black girl joy in her.
She’s just like, ‘Wow, I am in the Batsuit.
I’m using the Bat tools.
This is really happening!'”
But it’s not just about the adrenaline rush for her.
The stunts are an integral part of the storytelling and Ryan and Batwoman’s character development.
“We cannot turn [the camera] and make it someone else.
It has to be me.”
She’s looking forward to pushing the action even further.
“Right now, I fly out of scenes, but I can only go so high.
And so we’re going to get higher,” she says.
I’m just really excited because we figured out a way to get the camera above me.
Now when I fly out, you’re going to see me go out for a while."
Hopefully for many seasons to come.
Motion and still photography by Nino Munoz for EW.
Production byKendra Voth/In The City Entertainment for EW.
