According to The Hollywood Reporter, Rachel Maddow is heading to Gotham City to join the CW’s Batwoman adaptation as Vesper Fairchild. While there are no plans for the MSNBC host to physically appear on the show, her voice will be used to bring the radio and television host to life in multiple episodes.
“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,” Batwoman showrunner Charoline Dries said in a statement.
The character was previously alluded to in the Elseworlds crossover that saw Arrow, Flash and Supergirl all converge for a singular story when it was revealed that she used to have a relationship with Oliver Queen himself.
Debuting in Batman #540, Vesper previously had a romantic relationship with Bruce Wayne in the comic books. Unfortunately, the character was essentially “fridged,” murdered by David Cain as part of an insane conspiracy that led to Bruce Wayne being framed for her death in the “Bruce Wayne: Murderer?” storyline.
Maddow is no stranger to the character, having written the introduction for the deluxe hardcover collection of Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III’s Elegy storyline in 2010. Ever the journalist, Maddow herself took to Twitter to confirm that the casting wasn’t one of those so-called fake news incidents.
I know no one's going to believe this is true, but it's true.
I'm "Vesper Fairchild" in the new Batwoman TV show that starts this Sunday night on The CW.
(My character is soooo not me; turns out playing her is one of the most fun things I've ever done).https://t.co/LP8PauXvUL
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) October 4, 2019
Batwoman stars Ruby Rose as Kate Kane and debuts tomorrow night on The CW, Sunday, October 6th at 8:00 PM.
