The showrunner of Batwoman explains what would have happened in season 4 if The CW hadn't cancelled the series. Batwoman originally premiered in October 2019 as part of the Arrowverse, a family of The CW shows derived from DC Comics that began with the premiere of Arrow in 2012 and expanded to include series like The Flash, Supergirl, and Superman & Lois. Batwoman followed Bruce Wayne's cousin Kate Kane (Ruby Rose) taking on his mantle when he is out of Gotham, though in season 2, the series reorganized its premise to center around a new character becoming Batwoman: Ryan Wilder (Javicia Leslie).
Batwoman season 3 concluded on March 2, 2022 with episode 13, "We Having Fun Yet?" The show was then cancelled in late April during a huge swath of The CW cancellations that took the ax to many of their long-running series, including Riverdale, Charmed, Dynasty, and the Arrowverse projects Naomi and DC's Legends of Tomorrow. This means that Batwoman ended without knowing it wasn't going to be renewed, leaving a couple of dangling cliffhangers in its finale. This includes the Joker (Nathan Dashwood) mounting an attack by dropping acid bombs from a blimp hovering over Gotham.
Caroline Dries, the showrunner for the series, sat down with SFX Magazine (via GamesRadar) to discuss what could have been the cancelled Batwoman season 4. In addition to bringing back the storyline between Poison Ivy (Bridget Regan) and Renee Montoya (Victoria Cartagena) and foregrounding Ryan's romance with Sophie (Meagan Tandy), Dries would have followed the heroine finally realizing she is worthy of carrying the mantle of Batwoman. She wanted the follow-up to the Joker attack to be "almost post-apocalyptic," seeing if the newly minted hero could handle "a Chernobyl situation." Read the full quote below:
I wanted there to be real ramifications for that. I wanted it to be almost post-apocalyptic, as Ryan is now one of the few left taking care of her city. [...] I wanted her to totally represent the hero of the city, as she's proven to herself that she's capable of being Batwoman. She has everything: a biological family and her Bat family. Now, how does she literally save her city from a Chernobyl situation?
I think as long as the Arrowverse is alive, then Ryan Wilder and Batwoman are alive. Time will tell.
This potential storyline certainly would have upped the ante for Batwoman in a major way. The series was forced to spend more time in the setup phase than was intended after they recast their lead between seasons 1 and 2. Season 4 would have certainly been able to open up the world more, seeing how Batwoman might have settled into Gotham and allowing for more bombastic comic book storylines.
Dries' final comment does allow fans to hold out some hope for the future of the character, however. The Arrowverse lives on in shows including The Flash and Superman & Lois, and the franchise's penchant for crossovers may include a glimpse into the continuing lives of the Batwoman characters. While the series will not get the chance to really dig into the ramifications of that post-apocalyptic scenario, the franchise as a whole may at least get the chance to tie a bow on that storyline by checking in with the characters afterward.
Source: SFX Magazine