It Sure Sounds Like The Flash Is Recasting Elongated Man
The first episode of Batwoman Number Two aired last night, to mixed reactions from both fans and critics. The most positive thing I’ve heard is that the new Bat has a more interesting personality than the statue that was Ruby Rose, but it’s faint praise. Personally, I thought the episode was a trainwreck. There was no believable way to integrate a complete stranger with no connection to the Kanes or the Foxes into the Batcave, especially within one hour, but Luke and Mary were somehow mesmerized by Ryan Wilder’s pretty speeches nearly instantly. And I don’t know who thought of the idea for making Ryan talk to a plant in her van, but it’s goofy as hell, emphasized by the moment when Hush knocked the plant over during the episode’s climactic fight and Ryan howled “NOOOOOO!”
All this could have been avoided by just recasting Kate, but Berlanti Industries Inc. decided against that. Are they just against recasts in general? Apparently not…we’re now hearing that when The Flash returns late next month (date still to be determined), the character of Elongated Man may be played by a different actor.
If you haven’t heard, Hartley Sawyer played Ralph Dibny for several seasons until some tweets with racist and sexist jokes resurfaced from his past. He was disgraced and fired. The incident had the potential to completely derail something the series had been setting up since EM got there and they were just now diving into…Ralph’s relationship with Sue Dearbon, his true love and eventual wife. They thought for the sake of irony they would play up EM as a noncommittal lothario for a while first.
According to this article on TVLine, Elongated Man will appear in an early episode of the upcoming season and will “look quite different, as the elastic metahuman is able to do.” Since bending and twisting his body is his power, they of course have a good excuse…but Batwoman ended its first season with Alice having the ability to give people new faces, and that could have been used too.
Unfortunately it also sounds like the new EM will only appear as long as it takes to tie up loose ends from Season 6. “We’re giving the Elongated Man a bit of a rest for while. But we will leave the door open,” says showrunner Eric Wallace. But…..why? Where does that leave poor Sue? When are we getting the blankety-blank relationship they’ve been teasing forever?
Who knows why anything happens at Berlanti Industries anymore?