Finished the impromptu Season 1 finale of BATWOMAN. It's not a finale as much as a stopping point; the season arcs don't come to any climax or jumping off point for Season 2. The season concludes with the expectation that the two unfinished episode of Season 1 will be remounted and completed as the Season 2 premiere episodes -- except all the footage of Kate Kane in those episodes features Ruby Rose who will not be back to complete it.
I imagine that the studio and network WANT to cancel BATWOMAN at this point when they've lost the actress playing Batwoman and switch to BATMAN instead. Unlike THE FLASH and SUPERGIRL and SUPERNATURAL, the studio can't simply finish off episodes 21 - 22 because those episodes weren't designed to introduce a new actress as Kate Kane. It'll be too jarring to go back to Wayne Tower where Rose's Kate Kane was seated only to now find Clea DuVall on that sofa next to Mary.
But they can't cancel. The CW ordered a second season. Berlanti Productions is obligated to deliver a second season. The airtime is booked. The writers are contracted. The space is leased. The factory is set to start running the assembly line for its televised BATWOMAN action playsets and if the playset has the face of Brianna Hildebrand (or someone) instead of Ruby Rose, then so be it -- at least that's how the manufacturing plant that is television will see it.
As far as the CW and Berlanti Productions, they'll simply find someone sufficiently androgynous and athletic and willing to be (fake) tattooed and fits into the suit and wig and start cranking out their content.
They'll likely create a time gap. Maybe the first quarter of the Season 2 premiere features Batwoman seen only in shaky camera news reports and from a civilian perspective with Batwoman taking down Arkham escapee after escapee. It's also reported that Bruce Wayne has been sighted returning to Gotham. Then there's a scene where Alice tells Hush that they need to build to Bruce walking into Wayne Tower; he needs to be seen making his grand re-entry into the city. A scene where 'Bruce' is attacked by an Arkham inmate and rescued by Batwoman who, in costume with the red wig and battle armour, is visually indistinguishable from Rose.
Then Batwoman returns to the Cave, astonished that Bruce is back and she unmasks before Luke and Mary to reveal it's Kristanna Loken or Ashley Platz or Rita Volk or Brianna Hildebrand some other performer with (a) androgynous features (b) recreations of Ruby Rose's tattoos and (c) Ruby Rose's hairstyle.
It's a mess publicly, but it doesn't have to be a mess narratively if they commit fully and totally to a new performer playing Kate Kane and also ensure that we see her in costume first. The new performer should be of the same physical type as Rose and have a similar tone and pitch in her voice -- and the show also needs to accept that a lot of the character comes from the costume.
Val Kilmer recently talked about how a friend was bringing some children to the set of BATMAN FOREVER, so Kilmer stayed in the suit for the visit -- but the kids had no interest in talking to him. They wanted to play with the batarangs and climb into the Batmobile. They weren't interested in MEETING Batman; they wanted to BE Batman.
And that's another part of why BATWOMAN cannot be cancelled right now. I described a scene from BATWOMAN to my gay niece where the teen lesbian Parker rages at Batwoman for trying to sympathize with Parker having homophobic parents. Parker says Batwoman couldn't possibly understand being outed to a phobic home, assumes that Batwoman is straight -- and is then astonished and moved and validated when Batwoman unmasks to reveal the famously gay Kate Kane under the cowl.
My niece cried at my description and she didn't even watch the show, so I can only imagine the good this sort of material does for every young lesbian out there longing to see themselves in the heroes onscreen. BATWOMAN is so validating, so empowering and so much more than Ruby Rose. BATWOMAN is every girl who feels fear and shame for being drawn to women instead of men. The world needs Kate Kane and Batwoman far more than it needs Ruby Rose to play Kate Kane and Batwoman. It will be very hard to follow Rose's fabulous performance, but it HAS to be done. What BATWOMAN started must not be stopped. It matters. It's important.
Lauren CRIED from an impromptu recap of an episode, so this show is clearly saying something important and must continue past Rose's departure for Lauren's sake and Lauren doesn't even watch it.