Batwoman: 5 ways to explain Kate Kane’s recasting in-show
By Mike McNulty
Solution 4: She wasn’t the real Kate
An even more convoluted scenario could be that the person everyone and viewers thought was Kate Kane was never the real Kate Kane at all. How? Go back to the premise of the series. Not only did Bruce Wayne leave Gotham, but so did Kate. Her dad, Jacob (Dougray Scott), sent her around the world for combat training. Kate only returned after she learned that Alice kidnapped her ex-girlfriend, Sophie Moore (Meagan Tandy) some five years later.
That five year period provides enough of a gap to allow for a “Kate wasn’t the real Kate” retcon. Maybe Ruby Rose “Kate” was a friend of the real Kate who was sent back to Gotham in her place while the real Kate continued her training? Or maybe the Ruby Rose “Kate” was brainwashed into thinking she was the real Kate for nefarious reasons? Heck, maybe this was some crazy scheme of Alice’s to remake her twin into a better sister? It’s somewhat workable.
What it’s not, however, is perfect. In order for this to work, the series would have to go to great lengths explaining why all the flashbacks depict Kate looking like Ruby Rose if she’s not the “real Kate Kate.” Or why everyone who knows Kate – including her own family and ex-girlfriends – can “recognize her” as Kate despite Kate being an “impostor.” Doubtful, too, this could be explained away within the confines of a single episode. Of all the possible solutions, this one is, by far, the messiest.