WARNING: The following article includes spoilers for Batwoman Season 1, Episode 6, "I'll Be Judge, I'll Be Jury," which aired Sunday on The CW.
On The CW's Batwoman, Camrus Johnson plays Luke Fox, the budding superhero's right-hand man. He makes sure Kate Kane's tech works, and helps her when she's out on missions -- and sometimes he plays gatekeeper to her eager stepsister, Mary. In fact, Luke has been in the superhero game longer than Kate: He performed the same role for Batman before his disappearance. And in the show's most recent episode, it was revealed that his father, iconic Batman character Lucius Fox, was murdered several years earlier -- an event that deeply affected Luke.
CBR spoke with Johnson about being a part of Batwoman, how the news that his father's killer may still be at large will affect Luke, and working to turn Kate into a hero for all of Gotham.
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CBR: What excited you about joining Batwoman?
Camrus Johnson: Pretty much everything about it. I’ve been a huge superhero fan for quite some time and I’ve played Batman video games, I dressed as Batman for Halloween when I was a kid... So the fact that I get to be in his world is such a huge deal. And then to be in Batwoman that’s like mainly female-led and it's extremely diverse and LGBTQ-supporting, it’s everything I could ask for in a TV show.
What were your thoughts on joining such a diverse cast?
It’s a blessing. To be a black actor, there's only been so many roles and types of roles that we’ve been able to audition for and get the past few years. So to play a role that is smart and funny and strong and independent. The fact that he gets to be such an iconic character for young black men and women to look up to in such a diverse [series], having gay characters and Asian characters and Black characters all within the leads of this show. I can't imagine being in a show that could make me happier. It’s so many beautiful things at one time.
What did you think about what you learned you'd be playing the son of such an iconic Batman character?
Yeah, I freaked out! It’s so cool! We all know who Lucius Fox is… we know how legendary he is of a character. Lucius Fox is such a huge deal, especially to us that read comic books and like know Batman so well. So, to… just be in the family line of a character like Lucius Fox and to have a name so similar. To play Luke Fox.
I was talking to some people before the show came out and I’d say that I was playing Luke Fox in Batwoman. They’d say ‘Luke Fox? You mean like Lucius Fox.’ I’m like ‘Yeah!’ So the fact that I could play… his junior, it’s so incredible to me. I love the character so much and I love his whole backstory. So it’s been very, very awesome.
Speaking of which, in "I'll Be Judge, I'll Be Jury" we learn that Lucius Fox is dead. What did you think about when you found out that was the case?
It surprised me. I know that Lucius isn’t alive in every Batman story that's been out. He does pass here and there and for the most part he is alive. So I think I assumed that he would be alive and hidden somewhere in the story. So [when] it was revealed to me in the beginning that he’s dead I was very, very surprised because that shapes this Luke Fox in a very different way.
To have this important person in your life not been around and not be alive in the beginning… of the show, it really makes Luke different. It’s the reason that he’s so closed off, it’s the reason that he’s so frantic and the reason that he’s so guarded is because the person he was closest to is no longer here. So I think that’s one reason you don’t really see him interacting with a lot of other people, you don’t see him getting very close with Kate Kane, because I don’t think he’s exactly ready to get close to anyone too soon.
Well now we know too that the person that he thought had been brought to justice for his father's murder may not have been the actual killer. Will we be seeing a lot of fallout for Luke from that revelation that his father's killer may still be out there?
I hope so. I think this episode was [an] especially big for [him] because not only does Kate now know about Lucius’ backstory and exactly what happened, but now Luke isn’t exactly sure if the guy that’s in jail is the right guy. He's not exactly sure if [prosecuting lawyer] Stanton was a good guy and if he was working with the bad guys this entire time.
I think there's a lot of misinformation he can dig in here and I think that that’s a lot for Luke and I honestly think that he will be going through a lot of this emotional roller coaster alone and to himself, because again, he does not connect with people very often. So I honestly feel like a lot of this will be his secret. And as we’re focusing on… Alice and Batwoman, I think Luke behind closed doors will be going through a lot of this stuff alone.
He thinks of himself as on the right side of things too. He was helping Batman, now he's helping Batwoman and this plunges him into a moral gray area. Will that have him questioning any of his actions with Batwoman now?
That’s a good question. I'm not sure if he thinks that his work has been bad in any sort of way because I really do think that Luke believes in his city so much and cleaning the streets and taking the bad guys off the streets and having a hero that everyone can look up to like Batman, so I don’t think that Luke believes that what he’s doing with Kate is wrong in any way.
I do think that he will reassess it though. I do think that if he made a mistake of putting the wrong person in jail, then I think from now on he’ll be looking at things in a different light and making sure that the decisions that they make are correct and that they are informed and that they are always on the right side of history.
He does have a lot of tech at his disposal. Would he ever try to take matters into his own hands when it comes to who his father's killer might potentially be?
Possibly. I only think that he would because I’m not sure he would want to confide in Kate or anyone else when it came to it. I just don't know to what extent he would. I wouldn’t be surprised if he started investigating in his, I guess you would call it his free time. He doesn’t really have any free time, but I guess he could investigate in his free time, and if he got to a certain answer, he’d probably ask Kate for help then.
But he doesn’t seem like the type to ask Kate for help when it comes to his personal matters. I do think he’d do his own investigating but it feels like he’d do something and get himself in trouble. And I feel like he could find himself in a situation that could be rough for him to get out of alone.
A lot of people seem to know Kate’s secret identity at this point. Should we worry that that could become a problem for her and by extension, Luke?
I think that’s always a worry. Keeping Kate Kane a secret is such a huge deal that any form of anyone finding out exactly who she is and definitely knowing that she’s Batwoman is a problem both for Kate and Luke because, obviously... if someone finds Kate out, then they find Luke out and vice versa. So I think that's always a constant fear and that's with really any superhero is keeping that identity a secret because you can’t have too many people in the pot.... Once there’s one too many people on the team or one too many people that knows the secret, that’s when word gets out and there's no hiding anymore.
So what is it like being the man in the chair? You're not in on the action but you are keyed into it a lot of the time. What's it like playing that part of it for you?
Are you comfortable with all the technical speak that you have to do?
The tech jargon? Yeah. You know not every actor can do it because it's a lot of hard words, a lot of long words and long sentences. The thing about Luke, a character choice is that...he talks really fast. It’s saying a lot of tech exposition really quickly, and trying to keep that clear and make sense and also have emotions read through can be challenging. But I really enjoy it. I think Luke is a really fun character. And the challenge of his nervousness and craziness when it comes to these very dire situation is a lot of fun.
Well, every once in a while, we also see him compare Batwoman to Batman. Will he ever get over the comparison?
I think it depends on how far we see Kate grow. Kate has her own issues of: she’s sort of the hero of the city, but a lot of the time she’s mainly focused or even only focused on her personal life, her family struggles and her sister -- the whole Alice situation. So although Luke believes in her and loves her and trusts her, I think he also wants to keep her on track and say ‘Hey you know Batman, whenever he saved the day, he’s saving everyone. He’s never just thinking about himself, he’s thinking about everybody.’
So as soon as Kate starts to grow more into that then I think Luke will be a little more lenient on her… She’s not so much selfish… [but] the longer that she’s more focused on her personal life than the need of a hero for the rest of the entire city the more than Luke is going to get onto her about it.
In the last couple of episodes, we’ve seen flashes of humor from Luke. Will we have more moments like that in upcoming episodes?
Oh, yeah, I think Luke will always be funny by accident. He’s so sarcastic and he’s too smart for his own good…. I love the fact that the audience has been reacting to his quick, funny, quirky lines. Because a lot of the time I don’t think Luke knows that he’s being funny, he’s just being. And because of that I think you'll see a lot more of that as the show continues.
Created by Caroline Dries and developd by Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television, Batwoman stars Ruby Rose, Rachel Skarsten, Meagan Tandy, Camrus Johnson, Dougray Scott, Elizabeth Anweis and Nicole Kang. The series airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.