In case you didn't know, the Batwoman character is kind of a big deal in the DC Universe. Not only is she a female superhero with her own series, but she is the highest-profile LGBTQ superhero in the DC library. In the stand-alone comics series, Batwoman, a.k.a. Kate Kane, has a girlfriend named Maggie Sawyer, whom she proposes to in issue seventeen. Unfortunately, their nuptials never came to pass because DC Comics has said its heroes "shouldn't have happy personal lives" owing to their commitment to defend others. But will that hold true now that Batwoman has her own TV show too?
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On the new CW show, Batwoman (Ruby Rose) is an out and proud lesbian, but her personal life is a little different from the comic books, owing mostly to the fact that the show begins earlier in the timeline than when Maggie Sawyer was introduced in the comics.
In Batwoman's backstory, Kate attends the United States Military Academy at West Point, but when allegations arise that she is involved with a fellow female cadet, she refuses to lie and admits to being a lesbian, which gets her kicked out of the academy. She moves back to Gotham City and eventually begins dating a young cop named Renee Montoya, but Renee is not the cadet from the military academy.
On the show, flashbacks show Kate being kicked out of West Point for having a lesbian relationship with Sophie Moore (Meagan Tandy); here, Kate gets her heartbroken because Sophie denies the relationship so that she can stay at the academy. Later, when Kate moves back to Gotham, Sophie is a security agent working for Kate's father, Jacob (Dougray Scott).
It's similar enough to the comics that it seems perhaps Sophie Moore is a stand-in character for Renee Montoya — though one big change is that Sophie is married to a man on the show and is keeping her past with Kate a secret. That will obviously create quite the romantic conflict in season one of the show.
In the comics, Maggie Sawyer doesn't come into Kate's life until much later. She too is a Gotham police officer, though she was actually introduced in the Superman comics way back in 1987, working for the Metropolis police department. Eventually, she is transferred to Gotham as the head of the Major Crimes Unit and it is here that she meets Kate and they begin their relationship.
Interestingly, Maggie Sawyer has actually already appeared on The CW's Arrowverse shows. She was introduced in the second season of Supergirl, played by Floriana Lima. Maggie became romantically involved with Supergirl's sister, Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh), but they eventually called off their engagement because they couldn’t agree on whether they wanted to have kids — Alex did and Maggie did not.
There is no word yet if Lima will appear on Batwoman as Maggie, but the Arrowverse does love crossovers and connections, so perhaps that is something the series can explore down the line. For now, it looks like the Kate-Sophie relationship is the one to watch.