The CW's Batwoman season 1 finale had to cut a Supergirl cameo due to the Arrowverse production shutdowns. The newest Arrowverse show on The CW lineup just finished its freshman season. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak halting production, the show had to end two episodes early, stopping at 20 episodes instead of the originally planned 22-episode season. While shows like Arrow and Black Lightning were able to finish off their seasons, Supergirl and The Flash were two other Arrowverse shows that weren't so lucky. In fact, The Flash ended three episodes earlier than planned.
Batwoman follows Kate Kane (Ruby Rose), who returns to Gotham City when her cousin Bruce Wayne vanishes. She dons the cape and takes up the mantle of Gotham's protector, as she takes on the criminal underworld. While the show started off with Batwoman fighting crime in Gotham on Earth-1, the Arrowverse crossover event, Crisis On Infinite Earths, brought her together with all the other superheroes. Now the character is tied into the other popular shows that exist on the network.
Caroline Dries, the Batwoman showrunner, discussed the finale with TVLine. During the conversation, Dries reveals that Kara, aka Supergirl, was originally supposed to make an appearance on the Batwoman season 1 finale. The interviewer brought up that when Supergirl was mentioned during the finale and in the opening recap, they expected Kara to show up. Dries replied, "Well, here is one of the COVID setbacks. The frame that Kate swipes the Kryptonite out of, that was supposed to be a picture of Kara and Kate."
Dries continued, "When I saw the cut it said, 'Insert Picture of Kara & Kate' I was like, 'Guys, why is this still in the cut?' They said, 'We can’t go and shoot a picture of them together, we’re on lockdown.' So that was kind of a bummer, because I wanted to show that Kate had a picture of Kara in her library, because they’re friends." Dries was then asked if Kara would appear on screen next season, to which the showrunner explained, "I don’t think so. The way that the Supergirl production schedule is laying out, it doesn’t really line up with ours. We’re just going to have to imply it somehow."
Throughout the rest of the interview, Dries also discussed other scenes that were cut from the finale due to the early shutdown on production. For instance, while the show was able to finish filming the Alice and Mouse storyline, they still ended up losing one day of shooting. There were scenes that Dries wanted to include, but was unable to. However, Dries did state that at the end of the day, they still had a really solid Batwoman finale episode.
While the Supergirl scene being cut could be a disappointment to some, that specific element does not seem to have had a significant impact on specific A-story elements. It is, however, indicative of the many compromises that have had to be made due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Flash similarly had to cut a planned Easter egg involving Aquaman. Though the ongoing crisis will impact when production on Batwoman resumes, the show was fortunately renewed for a second season. Currently, the new seasons of Batwoman and the other Arrowverse shows are expected for a 2021 release. This may change depending on how the pandemic unfolds.
Source: TVLine