Batwoman: 5 ways to explain Kate Kane’s recasting in-show

Solution 1: Facial Reconstruction

Look, when you’re going out every night dressed up in a bat costume fighting bad guys and hunting down your psychotic twin sister, you’re going to get hurt. It doesn’t matter how bulletproof your body armor is, or quick you can dodge – there’s always that one injury you just don’t walk away from. Considering how Kate, like Bruce Wayne, is mortal, there’s no reason why such a thing couldn’t happen.

Let’s say then that, at the start of season 2, Kate as Batwoman has tracked down one of Alice’s (Rachel Skarsten) potential hideouts and ends up fighting some minions. In this scene, Kate can be easily played by a stunt double or, to save cost, the show can use stock footage from an earlier episode. Suddenly, Alice triggers a detonator and the hideout explodes, catching Kate in the blast.

Fortunately, Luke Fox (Camrus Johnson), Mary Hamilton (Nicole Kang), and Julia Pennyworth (Christina Wolfe) rush to the scene and find that Kate still alive, but she’s unconscious and horribly scarred. Having then taken her to the Batcave, and with Mary’s medical know-how, Kate undergoes plastic surgery to repair her damaged face. There, Kate spends the next few months recuperating from her injuries as Gotham slides into complete hell.

A little extreme? Yes, but it’s also one of the more plausible and grounded scenarios the series can come up with. It’s also been the go-to method by many soap operas and TV dramas to explain why a character looks like a completely different person than they did before. Besides, if (SPOILERS) Tommy Elliot/Hush (Gabriel Mann) can use plastic surgery to make himself look like Bruce Wayne, then Kate getting a complete facial makeover isn’t out of the realm of possibility either.