Batwoman's season 1 premiere drew 1.8 million viewers in late 2019, but ratings for The CW series have steadily declined ever since. The early finale (shooting was halted thanks to COVID, so all these shows wrapped up prematurely), for example, pulled in only 740,000 viewers last summer.
After Ruby Rose decided to leave the series behind, the decision was made by the network to cast a new actress to play the Scarlet Knight. However, rather than having Javicia Leslie star as Kate Kane, she's portraying an original hero called Ryan Wilder who has no comic book history.
Could that be why the season 2 premiere failed to draw an audience on Sunday?
"What Happened to Kate Kane?" was watched by just 663,000 viewers, drawing a 0.1 rating. This makes it the third lowest viewed episode of Batwoman ever, with only "If You Believe in Me, I'll Believe in You" (640,000 viewers) and "A Narrow Escape" (630,000 viewers) behind it. If these numbers don't improve, it feels inevitable that cancellation could follow.
Batwoman won't even benefit from a crossover bump as the planned Superman & Lois event has been scrapped due to COVID.
Looking at the ratings for each of the CWVerse shows, it's apparent their best days are behind them. That could be an indication that it's time for the network to move on from this era of storytelling.
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