Javicia Leslie doesn’t need a cape—or a batarang—to be our hero.
The actress has been making a name for herself with dynamic film and television roles over the past decade (from the MacGyver reboot to the comedy God Friended Me), but her biggest breakthrough yet came when she suited up in the costume of Batwoman, leading The CW superhero drama’s second and third seasons.
As the guardian of Gotham City, Leslie put her own spin on the titular Batwoman, a.k.a. Ryan Wilder, making history as the first Black and bisexual woman to play the iconic hero and blazing new trails for Black, queer representation on television.
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Two years after that series came to an end, Leslie is back to crime-fighting on network TV—only this time she’s got a whole new team by her side. In ABC’s new procedural High Potential, she co-stars as Daphne, an LA detective whose precinct reluctantly recruits the help of Morgan (It’s Always Sunny‘s Kaitlin Olson), their one-time cleaning lady with an exceedingly high IQ that makes her especially handy in tracking down criminals.
After premiering on September 17, the series became an instant ratings hit for the network, and already looks to be a fine showcase for Leslie and the rest of her exciting ensemble (which also includes Scrubs & Claws‘ Judy Reyes, always welcome on our screens).
With things just heating up on High Potential, we though it was the perfect time to catch up with Leslie and invite her to the hot seat for our rapid-fire Q&A series, Dishin’ It. In our conversation, the actress opens up about how her new show might speak to queer audiences in these trying times, reflects on the lessons she learned while playing Batwoman, and shares what it was like behind-the-scenes when she was a Drag Race guest judge.
Is there a piece of media—whether a movie, TV series, book, album, theater, video game, etc…—that has played an important role in your understanding of queerness and the queer community? Why does it stand out to you?
That’s a great question! Sheesh, you know, it’s interesting: I feel like I can’t think of anything off the top of my head that was from my formative years. But I do think that, even though I was an adult when the when The L Word came out, that was still very formative as far as my perspective of seeing queerness just exist without it being these traumatic stories of how you were able to express yourself. For me especially—because when I moved to LA, I moved to West Hollywood—it was just very much this idea of, “who you are is who you are—we all exist without having to explain ourselves.” And I feel like that show was the best reflection of that.
What can you tell us about your role on High Potential, Daphne? In what ways would you say you’re most like her, and in what ways are you different?
I definitely feel like there’s commonality between my Javicia life and then my Daphne life. In real-life I’m very focused, very dedicated, very competitive myself—and then Daphne has those very similar traits. I would say, of the differences, one is that she’s a police officer, and I’m nowhere near in anything that ahs to do with laugh enforcement. [Laughs.] Two, I feel like the idea of being an overachiever in her position, it takes a lot more structure, versus for me, being an overachiever in my position takes a lot more letting loose and just allowing my creativity to go its own way.
And I just really love, when I when I look at the world around that, I love my dedication to wanting to help people with whatever skill sets that I have, and going above and beyond and and really just exhausting all possibilities and all options when it comes to being able to help people. I really do believe that’s what makes the Daphne world so different from any other world I’ve played in.
If you had an IQ of 160 and were“high intellectual potential” (HIP) like Morgan, what’s an annoying everyday task you’d be excited to use it on, to help you get it done faster or easier?
It’s something I think I already do it, but I would just be even more annoying with it, which is: I assume I already know what everyone’s thinking. So, I feel lie through context clues, and through all the random, weird knowledge I would know as an “HIP,” I would literally, easily think that I know what everyone’s saying without them actually telling me. And it would be annoying! [Laughs.] I can only imagine.
Where’s one of the first spaces you can remember that made you feel a part of a queer community?
I think it was living in West Hollywood, because I’m from the Maryland, D.C. area. And when I first moved to LA, I lived in Baldwin Hills, and then I moved to West Hollywood because it was so much closer for commercial auditions. And if you’ve ever been to West Hollywood, it really is its own world. And so, to be there, it just feels so fun and free and expressive and loving. So that was like my first time truly being just surrounded by that feeling of free queerness. I mean, I lived right across the street from Hamburger Mary’s!
When I think of Hamburger Mary’s, I think of drag queens, so on that note: I also remember when you were a guest judge on Drag Race All Stars 8, in one of my favorite episodes of the season, “Forensic Queens.” What’s something you remember surprising you about the experience of guesting on Drag Race?
Two things! One would be how freaking kind Ru is. Like, you really feel so welcomed and so seen and appreciated. And for who Ru is to our generation, to our community, you don’t want to have expectations, because you’re like, “You’re like our Beyonce, we don’t expect you to even see us!” And that wasn’t the experience at all. I was met with so much kindness and so much sincerity, and I just thought that was beautiful.
I would say my second favorite part of the experience that really stood out was when I got to actually go in the back for [Untucked] and talk to the queens after. It was just so beautiful hearing everyone’s story. Like, many of them are aspiring artists, aspiring actors, and so to hear how they feel about the journey of acting, and asking me questions about my journey and things like that, it just was a really genuine moment. And I didn’t even expect it to be so sincere and so grounded, because there were still cameras back there, but it didn’t feel like it! It just felt like I was really in a room talking to a bunch of artists who are on their journey. And it was really beautiful. They were so genuine and so sensitive.
Prior to High Potential, I think a lot of people will know you from Batwoman, and your legacy as a Black queer woman in this superhero role in just major—what’s something that playing Ryan Wilder taught you about yourself?
I think that sometimes when you take on these roles, you think you’re by yourself. And what that role taught me is that just every part of representation that Ryan stood for, there’s a community behind it that really gathered around me and supported the show, supported the actors, supported me through that journey, so that they could see themselves on screen, being represented fully and fearlessly. Just knowing that we had a true community behind us made us more brave as actors, as creators, writers—to be able to really lean into those stories.
I think the second thing would be that coming onto that show as, like, the first TV show that I led, it showed me that I had it in me, and it kind of put a fire under me to just continue to be brave and know that anything is possible. Like, I can literally get anything if it’s for me, and if I really put everything into it.
To bring it back to High Potential, aside from the chance to see you in another great role on screen, in what ways do you hope this might appeal and speak to queer audiences?
I think that one thing we’re learning, especially in this state of politics, is that you don’t necessarily have to be something specific in order to be a true advocate. And I think that this show leads with advocacy, just through the sensitivity of the characters—the empathy of Morgan, our lead, and the empathy of all of our characters, but especially our female characters. It feels like a show that could be safe for anyone in the community to come and play and be represented.
When I think about everything happening right now in government and politics and things like that, this show is just a true example that we’re not necessarily always looking for you to be us in order to fight for us. Will we have all kinds of characters that are authentic representations of all kinds of people in our communities? Yes, to answer that question, yes. Our lead is a straight white woman, but she is truly, to me, an example of a person who represents empathy and represents advocacy for everyone. And I think this is the perfect time to have a lead characters like that. Because it’s the same for Judy Reyes’ character, Selena Soto, and same for my character, Daphne Forrester. Having these women in these type of roles just continues to show the pure empathy women have, and why that’s true needed to lead and create safe spaces for others.
Who is a queer or trans artist/performer/creator that you think is doing really cool work right now? Why are they someone we should all be paying attention to?
I have a really great friend that I just dearly, dearly love—she’s on Yellowjackets, her name is Jasmin Brown, And I would shout her out because I think that she’s so brave and so bold and fearless, and I know her personally, so I know that that that doesn’t come without repercussions at times, and that doesn’t come without loneliness or sadness or regret at times. And I feel like the fact that she continues to be such a bold advocate for what she believes in, she deserves so much recognition.
New episodes of High Potential premiere every Tuesday on ABC and stream the next day on Hulu.
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