Rachel Maddow Joins the CW's Batwoman, Making It Even Queerer

The out MSNBC host will play a key role in multiple episodes of the Ruby Rose-led superhero series.

Tracy E. Gilchrist

Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP of Editorial and Special Projects at equalpride. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.

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Tracy E. Gilchrist

October 04 2019 6:35 PM EST

May 26 2023 2:04 PM EST

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The good news is that bespectacled lesbian superhero of cable news Rachel Maddow is headed to Gotham City for a stint on the CW's Batwoman, which stars Ruby Rose as the lesbian winged avenger.

The bad news is that while Maddow will inhabit the role of TV personality Vesper Fairchild, a "key role," according to The Hollywood Reporter, she will not actually appear on-screen. She will be featured in some form in multiples episodes, however.

Fairchild, a character culled from the comics, is said to have had an affair with Batman's alter ego, Bruce Wayne. In a CW Arrowverse crossover last year, it was revealed that she had also been involved with Oliver Queen (the Arrow).

"We consider Vesper Fairchild to be the sardonic Voice of Gotham," Batwoman showrunner Caroline Dries told THR. "In addition to Rachel's interest in Batwoman, we thought she'd be the perfect casting choice because her own hard-hitting journalism wildly contrasts Vesper's penchant for snark, gossip, and criticism of female superheroes."

Maddow joins out star Rose in the first CW superhero show with a lead lesbian character. Black Lightning'sThunder is a lesbian, although she is not that show's central character.

Batwoman premieres Sunday on the CW. Watch the trailer below.