Batwoman Season 3 Could Answer A Gotham Season 1 Mystery

As Renee Montoya is joining Batwoman season 3 with the same actress who played her in Gotham season 1, the Arrowverse drama could answer a long-standing mystery from the Batman prequel series. One of the new players appearing in Batwoman season 3 is Renee, who has ties to the Batwoman comics. While Kate Kane has ended her time on Batwoman, Renee was one of her canonical love interests as she is now joining the Arrowverse. However, Renee’s casting stands out as Victoria Cartagena will portray the DC heroine for the second time after playing her on Gotham. It’s not often that the Arrowverse gets to feature an actor who played the same character, but from a different TV show or even movie, with Brandon Routh’s Superman as an example.

In Batwoman season 3’s case, Cartagena being cast as Renee is significant because of how things went down in Gotham season 1. Originally, Gotham was meant to focus more on the GCPD, with Renee being one of those leading characters. However, for Gotham season 2 and beyond, the Batman prequel series had a creative shift when the writers put more emphasis on the villains. While GCPD characters like Gordon and Bullock remained, Renee mysteriously vanished with her partner Crispus Allen. Despite Cartagena being a series regular in Gotham season 1, the writers never addressed why Renee was removed ahead of the show’s following season.

While Cartagena’s iteration in Batwoman season 3 will have nothing to do with her Renee from Gotham season 1, the Arrowverse has an opportunity to solve the mystery from the FOX series. Theoretically, Gotham could easily exist as one of the many Earths in the Arrowverse Multiverse, especially after Crisis on Infinite Earths. Perhaps on Earth-Prime, Batwoman’s Renee had a similar history like Cartagena’s Gotham character, including the complicated love story with Barbara Kean. Because the Arrowverse has established how doppelgangers could still have very similar lives, but with a few key differences, this could certainly apply to Cartagena’s Renee on Batwoman. It would definitely be a way for Batwoman season 3 to break the fourth wall and nod to how Renee got removed following Gotham season 1 with no explanations. Whether it was due to Warner Bros. restrictions or something else remains a mystery to this day.

However, Batwoman could use a significant comic aspect about Renee that the Gotham creators never took advantage of in the first season. Since this take on Renee in Batwoman season 3 won’t be a GCPD officer anymore, the Arrowverse could potentially incorporate her history as the Question. Due to how Ryan Wilder’s super-team is still a work in progress, Renee joining them as the Question would be a strong addition and a helpful way to differentiate Cartagena’s Arrowverse version from her Gotham iteration. The Arrowverse always strives for diversity and representation and having Renee as the Question would finally allow the franchise to add more Latinx superheroes. While The CW can’t use Vic Sage, Batwoman season 3 could reveal that Renee worked with the original Question as part of her Earth-Prime backstory.

Thanks to the Arrowverse Multiverse concept, there is no reason why Cartagena couldn’t play a new Renee seven years later after her time on Gotham. The Flash has done it organically for several years as they have honored and even included the CBS series from the 1990s. While casting an actor to play a character twice in two different properties is not common, it is fun to see the Arrowverse giving Cartagena another shot at playing Renee. Cartagena’s character on Gotham always had so much potential that the writers simply didn’t embrace, but now she will get a new chance at exploring Renee more in-depth. Hopefully, Batwoman season 3 can find a clever way to address Renee’s Gotham season 1 situation and poke a little fun at it too.

About The Author

Andy Behbakht
(1040 Articles Published)

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Andy is a senior writer at Screen Rant as he has covered the world of entertainment journalism since 2010, including superhero/comic book media. In addition to his work as a reporter, Andy co-hosts The Flash Podcast while running and producing the entire DC TV Podcasts network. He is also the founder/editor-in-chief of The Marvel Report since Fall 2015. Andy has previously written for sites such as FanSided, KSiteTV, TV Fanatic, It’s Just Movies, Heroic Hollywood, TV Overmind, and more.

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