Batwoman boss responds to criticism about lack of lesbian intimacy in season 2

Batwoman spoilers follow for the season two finale, 'Power'.

Batwoman boss Caroline Dries has responded to fan criticism about the lack of lesbian intimacy during the superhero drama's second season.

Although Kate Kane (Wallis Day) and Sophie Moore (Meagan Tandy) did get to share a kiss in the season finale, Ryan Wilder's (Javicia Leslie) romance with Angelique Martin (Bevin Bru) didn't include much physical intimacy.

Caroline Dries, the showrunner for the CW series, explained to Entertainment Weekly that Ryan wasn't able to have the romantic scenes that the show's writers and producers would have liked to include this season due to the filming restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Related: Batwoman star Javicia Leslie teases how season 2 finale twist will affect season 3

"One sort of thing that's been coming up on Twitter a lot [is] the lack of lesbian intimacy on the show this season," she said. "We were very happy to be able to get Sophie and Kate their kiss in the finale.

"I was thinking about that because I felt a little bit like, 'Oh, did we not deliver on the lesbian storyline for Batwoman this season?' And I remembered where we were at the beginning of the season.

"Our show started before any of the other [Arrowverse] shows, and we were still under the most rigid rules for COVID. So by the time Ryan's love story evolves to friendship with Angelique, that's when the rules opened up slightly and we had more clarity on what was allowed with COVID.

"[So that's] when we could pursue a love story, which is what we ended up doing with Alice [Rachel Skarsten]."

Related: Batwoman original star leaves show after 2 seasons

Dries added that she found herself questioning the lack of intimate scenes for Ryan during the season, but said that she feels confident that the show did the best it could within the filming restrictions.

"It made me think back on why we made the decisions we did, and we were so early on in the beginnings of how to film in a pandemic that we were never able to put Ryan in a situation, so we wrote around putting her in a situation where she could be intimate with Angelique," she explained.

"That's like one of the main reasons I did the show: When I turn on TV, I want to see a lesbian love story. So I just had to ask myself, 'How did we let this happen?' And then I remembered, we were literally the first show that went back, so all of our stuff was done earlier than any of the other shows that might've been able to have more intimate scenes."

Related: Arrow star's Batwoman cameo sets up major new Arrowverse superhero

But can we expect more romantic moments for Ryan in season three of the show? Dries revealed that exploring Ryan's romantic life on screen more is "definitely something we're excited by".

"[We] want to keep [that] in the forefront of our conversations in the writers' room, because that's the best part of the show in my opinion – the uniqueness of our lead," she said.

Batwoman will premiere its third season on October 13 on The CW in the US.

Batwoman season 2 is airing on The CW in the US. E4 airs the series in the UK.

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Reporter & Sub-Editor, Digital Spy Susannah is a freelance writer and sub-editor, specialising in the entertainment industry. She graduated in 2014, with a BA in English and American Literature and Creative Writing, and an MA in Creative Producing.  She’s been writing for Digital Spy ever since, after first getting involved through work experience, and has written hundreds of stories for the site on a range of topics, from The Sims to Doctor Who.  Susannah has also written for Reveal Magazine.  Her special interests are soaps (her Mastermind subject would be 2000s Coronation Street), Marvel and Star Wars. She can also quote far too many lines from Friends and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.