With the announcement of her casting as the new Batwoman, Javicia Leslie broke new ground by becoming the first Black actress to take on the role. In a new interview, Leslie talks all about the groundbreaking role she’s been tasked to play.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Leslie said she sees the role as a great start to what will be hopefully a long-running series in the same vein as Batwoman’s sibling show, Arrow. She said it would be a great opportunity to develop and expand a world for several years.

The 33-year-old actress came in as a replacement for Ruby Rose after the Australian actress decided to not come back for the show’s second season. As such, Leslie will be playing an entirely new iteration of Batwoman named Ryan Wilder. Wilder is described as “not your stereotypical All-American hero” and an out lesbian. 

When news of her casting first came out, Leslie said she was proud to not just be the first Black actress to play Batwoman but also to be a part of the barriers the show is breaking for the LGBTQ community. Leslie is an openly bisexual actress.

Leslie said in The Hollywood Reporter interview that it was a big deal for her to try for the role as she is a longtime Batman fan. She also stressed that taking on the role also represented something bigger, as she could be an inspiration for little Black girls.

The actress also welcomed the physicality of the role, saying that she has always led an active lifestyle, doing fitness training and practicing Muay Thai. She said that being able to have that be a part of her work is something that she welcomes and finds fun.

Cinema Blend also noted that aside from her self-declared love for Batman, Leslie also holds as her own personal hero Eartha Kitt, who played Catwoman in the Batman television series back in the 60s.

Leslie cited not just Kitt’s acting, but also her activism and how she entwined it with her art. During her decades in the industry, Kitt supported underprivileged youth in the Los Angeles area through her own Kittsville Youth Foundation. Kitt was a supporter of the LGBTQ community and was also a dedicated peace activist who protested the Vietnam War.

When Leslie will start filming for her turn as the Batwoman is still undetermined, as the global coronavirus pandemic has thrown production schedules out of order. It also looks like the pandemic is slowing down in the United States either, as the Aug. 25 update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country at 5,715,567 people. Deaths caused by COVID-19 are now at 176,617 people.