The CW's upcoming Bat-family ensemble piece Gotham Knights keeps on getting bigger. The role of Stephanie Brown has been recast with Doom Patrol's Anna Lore.
Stephanie Brown in the comics has been her original moniker, Spoiler, and as well as the fourth Batgirl and the fourth Robin. Brown was the daughter of villain the Cluemaster, and she has used her innate knowledge of puzzles and coding for the fight against crime. She will be a regular role on Gotham Knights, beginning with the upcoming pilot episode.
According to Deadline, Lore joined the series as a replacement for someone else who was previously cast as Stephanie Brown but never announced. More central characters of the series include a new protagonist named Turner Hayes, Bruce Wayne's adopted son, and Duela Dent, a vigilante who claims to be the daughter of every major Batman villain. Most surprising, Carrie Kelley, who is Robin Frank Miller's seminal comic The Dark Knight Returns, is part of the ensemble. This is her first major appearance outside of Miller's universe, and fans will be delighted to see one of the best Robins finally in live action.
Gotham Knights is an upcoming CW series focusing on the Bat-family, and how they fight crime after Bruce Wayne's murder. It has no relationship to the Gotham Knights video game of the same name, but it seems to have very similar goals. While there is a lot of great Batman media, there's not very much in terms of the Bat-family as a whole, who hardly have any roles in any movies or television. And that's a shame, as the ensemble characters are many fans' favorite piece of the Batman universe.
By removing focus from Bruce Wayne entirely, Gotham Knights should succeed in providing a wider view of this universe. Gotham City is the densest city in the history of comics, with too many iconic Batman characters to even count. With that in mind, it only makes sense to give the Bat-family a chance to shine and look at this from a different perspective. Because while Batman is great, there's only so much appeal a rich white guy can have, and the wider Gotham ensemble provides something for everyone. In both television and video games, Gotham Knights will give us a wider taste of who can be a superhero.
How will Gotham Knights do justice by these beloved ensemble characters? Which will be more successful, the game or the CW series? This is just one more exciting factor in Batman history, and fans are sure to get a lot more this fall.
Gotham Knights will film its pilot this April.
Source: Deadline