HBO Max‘s Batgirl film has cast the role of Alysia Yeoh, the best friend of Barbara Gordon, AKA Batgirl. Ivory Aquino is the first transgender actress to be cast in a live-action DC movie (via Variety). In fact, Alysia is the first openly trans character to be featured in the DCEU.
While the news was officially announced at the start of the week, we already had a hint that Aquino would be joining the Batgirl cast. Leslie Grace, who will play the role of Batgirl, first leaked the news on her Instagram story in mid-January. Her post featured an on-set photo of both her and Aquino crossing the street, tagging the actress along with the caption “Barbara and Alysia.”
Before scoring the role of Alysia, Aquino appeared as transgender activist Cecilia Chung in the 2017 docudrama miniseries When We Rise. Now, she joins Grace as Barbara Gordon, J.K. Simmons as Barbara’s father and Gotham City Police Department commissioner James Gordon, and Brendan Fraser as the sociopathic supervillain Firefly. Michael Keaton is reprising his role of Bruce Wayne/Batman for the second time in three decades, in tandem with an appearance in the upcoming film The Flash.
While this is the first time a DC feature film has included a transgender character, the CW series Supergirl was the first show to include a trans superhero on TV — Dreamer, played by Nicole Maines. The superhero’s sister Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh) also came out as a lesbian during Season 2, marking further progress for LGBTQ representation in the superhero genre.
Batgirl is expected to arrive on HBO Max in 2022.
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