Will Batgirl be an Asian American?

Ella Jay Basco will play Cassandra Cain, who eventually become Batgirl, right.

NEWCOMER ELLA JAY BASCO has nabbed the pivotal role of Cassandra Cain in the upcoming production of Birds of Prey.

The superhero movie stars Margot Robbie, who is also executive producer, reprising her role of bat-wielding Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad.

For those of you unfamiliar with the DC mythology, Cassandra Cain is the alter ego of Batgirl and exists in the same D.C. universe as Batman, the Joker, Superman, Wonder Woman and Aquaman.

Cassandra is the daughter of assassins David Cain and Lady Shiva. They raise their daughter in their own image, keeping human contact to a bare minimum and deprive her of speech so that she may become hone her skills as an extremely skilled assassin.

Margot Robbie plays Harley Quinn.

Without speech, Cassandra develops the unique ability to anticipate someone's movements by reading their body language. This gives her an advantage against any assailants.

In the comics, she eventually meets Batman and that leads her on the path to becoming Batgirl. 

Birds of Prey occurs before Cassandra's transformation into a bad-ass when she was only 12-years old. 

There is a Batgirl movie in development and it hasn't been cast. There might be a time jump between Birds of Prey and the grown-up Batgirl. If so, Ella might not be cast as the more mature Batgirld. But if Ella can pull off Cassanddra convincingly, ... well, by the time Batgirls starts filming, she'll be a teenager. Anything can can happen.

Cassandra Cain would be the biggest role for for the Filipina-Korean-American actress. Previously, she has had roles in Grey’s Anatomy, Happyland, Veep, and Superior Donuts. She is the niece of Dante Basco, who played  the iconic role of leader of the Lost Boys, Rufio, in the classic movie Hook opposite Robin Williams.


Cathy Yan (Dead Pigs) is directing the movie, the first female Asian director to helm a superhero film,. She recently confirmed that Birds of Prey will be an R-Rated movie scheduled to be released in 2020.

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Ella Jay Basco with her huncle, Dante Basco.

In Birds of Prey, she'll be too young to make an appearance as the super hero. We assume that Batgirl will make her debut in a followup film.

The addition of the Cassandra Cain version of Batgirl is a pretty interesting choice. In the comics, the character has a speech disability, which heightens her sight. Cain is able to anticipate movements from assailants by expertly reading body language. 

The cast of Birds of Prey keeps on growing. We now have word that newcomer Ella Jay Basco is in negotiations to play Cassandra Cain in the upcoming live-action DC Comics adaptation. It's not only a major break for an up-and-coming actress, but it could mean very big things for the on-screen DC universe, as Cassandra Cain is one of the characters who eventually becomes Batgirl.

She is the niece of Dante Basco.

According to a new report, Ella Jay Basco is only expected to be playing Cassandra Cain in Birds of Prey, so this doesn't mean that Batgirl is going to show up. And the previous indication was that the hero would appear at a later date, as Warner Bros. also has a Batgirl movie in development, which Joss Whedon was attached to write and possibly direct at one point. Other cast members confirmed up to this point include Margot Robbie, reprising her role as Harley Quinn, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress and Jurnee Smollett-bell as Black Canary, With Ewan McGregor set to portray the villain Black Mask.

For those who may not be familiar, Cassandra Cain, in the world of DC Comics, is the daughter of David Cain and Lady Shiva, both accomplished assassins. They raise her without much human contact and deprive her of speech so that she may become a great assassin. Eventually, she meets Bruce Wayne and that leads her on a path to becoming Batgirl. Barbara Gordon, daughter of Jim Gordon is the other, probably more well-known Batgirl. This report also comes with some new plot details. Apparently, Cassandra Cain stumbles across a diamond that belongs to Black Mask, a nefarious kingpin in Gotham City's criminal underworld. It's then up to Harley, Huntress and Black Canary to protect her. It was previously reported that this version of Gotham City won't have Batman around to protect it, so don't expect to see Batfleck show up to back them up. Ella Jay Basco is only twelve years old, so this version of Cassandra Cain will be very young.

Related: Every DC Comics Movie in Development

This will be the next DC movie to enter production. It's just one of several spin-offs centered on Harley Quinn that entered development after the success of Suicide Squad. It also, somewhat surprisingly, will enter production before Suicide Squad 2, which looked like it was going to begin filming early next year before the studio decided to move forward with this instead. Currently, Wonder Woman 1984and the Joker origin movie, not connected to the current live-action DC movies, are filming

Prior to this, Ella Jay Basco only had minor roles in shows like Grey's Anatomy, Veep and Superior Donuts. Needless to say, this is a big step up. Cathy Yan (Dead Pigs) is in the director's chair, working from a script by Christina Hodson (Bumblebee), who is also working on the Batgirl movie. Bird of Prey is currently scheduled to hit theaters on February 7, 2020. 

Congrats to “newcomer” Ella Jay Basco who is in negotiations to star as Cassandra Cain (AKA the future Batgirl) in Warner Bros’ Harley Quinn spin-off BIRDS OF PREY! Basco is of Korean and Filipina descent. From Variety:

Margot Robbie is back as Quinn with Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Jurnee Smollett-Bell on board as Huntress and Black Canary, respectively. Ewan McGregor will play the film’s villain and Rosie Perez will portray Gotham City police detective Renee Montoya.

Cathy Yan is directing the pic with Robbie producing, along with Sue Kroll and Bryan Unkeless.

In the new film, Robbie, Winstead, and Smollett-Bell team up to protect Cain’s character when she comes across a diamond belonging to McGregor’s Black Mask, a kingpin in Gotham City’s criminal underworld.

In DC Comics, Cain is the daughter of assassins David Cain and Lady Shiva, and is deprived of speech and human contact during her childhood as conditioning to become the world’s greatest assassin. She eventually befriends Bruce Wayne and goes on to become Batgirl. It is unknown whether the Batgirl element will be included in this storyline as WB is already developing a “Batgirl” movie.