For the second time in her career, Victoria Cartagena will play heroine Renee Montoya, a popular character from the CW’s live-action Arrowverse franchise. The actress will reprise the role of the crime fighter in the upcoming season of Batwoman.
“I guess #Reneemontoya and I have some unfinished business,” she tweeted after her casting was official. “So very excited to join this new group of talented artists, writers & crew who are doing their thing over here! They have welcomed me wholeheartedly! Grateful, humbled, hype AF… #batwoman #fullcircle.”
The “unfinished business” may refer to Cartagena’s previous incarnation of Montoya on the sister series Gotham, where the heroine made her live-action debut after years of mainly living in the DC Comics books since her creation in 1992.
Cartagena is another welcome addition of a BIOPC actor to a diversifying cast that features the first Black Batwoman in the history of DC comics in the previous season when Javicia Leslie took on the series’ lead after Ruby Rose left the show.
The cast also includes Camrus Johnson, Rachel Skarsten, Meagan Tandy, Nicole Kang, Dougray Scott, Rachel Maddow, Sam Littlefield, Allison Riley, Christina Wolfe, and Nathan Owens. Cartagena is the first main cast member of a Spanish surname in a major role on the CW’s Batwoman. The show is executive produced by Caroline Dries, who is also the creator and showrunner and a writer.
The “Batfamily” members have rolled out the welcome mat to the Phillapdelphia-born newcomer actress.
“Soooo excited that @VickiCartagena is joining our Bat-family!!!,” posted Leslie the Batwoman on Twitter. “Welcome, Vicki!!”
“How dope is this,” tweeted Johnson, who plays Luke Fox/Batwing. “Welcome to the Batfam, Vic. Gotham’s missed ya.”
Cartagena played detective Montoya in the first season of Gotham back in 2014 but was largely absent in that series’s subsequent seasons. Reportedly, Batwoman’s Montoya is a new version, presented as an ex-police officer who fights crime on her own in the company of other misfits.
In between the two Montoyas, the actress appeared in episodes of the series The Path, Jessica Jones, Deception, You and Manifest and a minor role in 21 Bridges, the crime drama starring the late Chadwick Boseman. Most recently she landed a main role in the series Almost Family and a few episodes of Servant.
Featured Photo: Victoria Cartagena as Renee Montoya in ‘Gotham’ (Credit: CW)