Ruby Rose to play lesbian Batwoman in new TV series

Australian actress Ruby Rose has been cast as Batwoman in a new live-action TV series, set to be the first superhero show with a gay lead character.

Rose, 32, announced her casting in an Instagram post on Tuesday. "The Bat is out of the bag and I am beyond thrilled and honored," she wrote. "I’m also an emotional wreck [...] because this is a childhood dream." 

The actress, who identifies as gender-fluid, continued: "This is something I would have died to have seen on TV when I was a young member of the LGBT community who never felt represented on TV and felt alone and different. Thank you everyone. Thank you God."

Batwoman first appeared in DC comic books in 1956 as Kathy Kane, a love-interest for Batman, but the character was relaunched in 2006 as Kate Kane, a lesbian character of Jewish descent.

Variety reports that the new show's version of the character will be "an out lesbian and highly trained street fighter" who is "armed with a passion for social justice and a flair for speaking her mind".

The new TV drama will be broadcast by The CW, the US network which airs other DC superhero shows including other DC superhero shows including Arrow, The Flash and Supergirl.

Although Batwoman will be the lesbian superhero to star in her own series, there have previously been gay supporting characters in other DC shows, such as Thunder, a superhero played by Nafessa Williams in The CW's Black Lightning.

Rose will make her debut as the character in an "Arrowverse" Christmas crossover episode, appearing alongside other characters from The CW's line-up.

The actress has previously appeared in Netflix's prison drama Orange is the New Black, and stars in action thriller The Meg, out in cinemas this week.

The show's executive producers are former DC Entertainment chief Geoff Johns, Arrow's Greg Berlanti – who recently signed a $400 million deal with Warner Bros – and The Vampire Diaries' writer/producer Caroline Dries. No broadcast date has been confirmed, but the first episode of Batwoman is expected to air in 2019.