Last year — after a casting call — DC’s upcoming Batgirl film selected actress Leslie Grace to play the superhero flick’s title character, making her the first Latina actress in the role.

Grace is best-known for her role as Nina Rosario in Jon M. Chu’s In the Heights, a 2021 film adapted from the play of the same name by playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes and composer Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Appearing alongside Grace is J.K. Simmons as her father, Police Commissioner Jim Gordon. Simmons is reprising his role as Gordon from previous D.C. film entries.

Also slated to appear are Brendan Fraser as villain Firefly and Michael Keaton, who will be reprising his role of Bruce Wayne / Batman from Tim Burton’s cinematic take on the character.

Ivory Aquino has been cast as Alysia Yeoh, the best-friend of Batgirl. Yeoh made her comic book debut in 2011. 

In comics, the character often works as a bartender and is the best friend of Gordon, as will be the case in the film adaptation. In some cases, the character even fights crime in a collective known as The Batgirls.

Aquino’s role will make Yeoh the first trans character in a DC film, while Aquino herself will become the first trans actress to play a major role in a feature DC film.

The actress thanked DC, Warner Bros., and HBO Max in an Instagram post:

“kudos…for bringing onto the screens of the #DCuniverse a depiction of #trans folks that’s reflective of our existence in the world (or part of it at least!) and for recognizing how much fun we’re all gonna have with Alysia in the house,” wrote Aquino.

Previously, the DC television series Supergirl featured trans actress Nicole Maines as Nia Nal. Nia Nal represents the first trans superhero on TV.

The film will be written by Christian Hodson, and directed by Belgian-Moroccan duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah.

The film follows Barbara Gordon as she dons the cowl and takes on the role of Batgirl. The character has appeared in multiple forms of media. 

Her first live-action iteration was played by Yvonne Craige for Batman (1966). Batgirl will be the character’s first original solo film.

DC’s Batgirl is set for a streaming release on HBO Max later this year.