Batwoman star Ruby Rose reveals exactly why she left: "Being a superhero lead is tough"
Back surgery and the demands of the role were too much for the Australian star.
Australian star of Batwoman, Ruby Rose, has revealed why she backed away from season two of the sought-after DC role – the weight of the lead role combined with not enough time to recover from a surgery.
Rose, the first openly LGBTQ actor in the DC Comics realm, arrived in the role on The CW series in 2018 with much fanfare, but she explained to EW why she chose to leave Batwoman: “Being the lead of a superhero show is tough. Being the lead in anything is tough.”
Seh continued: "But I think, in that particular instance, it was a lot more difficult because I was still recovering from my surgery. I had my surgery and then 10 days later I went to work, which maybe wasn’t the best idea. Most people take about a month or three off before they return to work, so it was definitely made more difficult by that. But as far as being a lead of a show or a film — regardless if it’s action or if it’s emotional — in whichever ways it’s taxing.”
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Rose, 34, previously appeared in Orange Is the New Black, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, John Wick: Chapter 2 and Pitch Perfect 3, so she was well used to the demands of action roles. But being the lead was another level altogether.
The Batwoman season one set had reportedly not been a happy place and Rose made her decision to leave during the coronavirus production shutdown. Only 20 of the 22 episodes of season one were completed.
“It wasn’t so much [the injury], especially because after we wrapped up we didn’t get to finish the real finale because of COVID,” she said. “You know, you have time in quarantine and sort of isolation to just think about a lot of different things and what you want to achieve in life and what you want to do. I think for both [me and the producers], it was a great opportunity to have a dialogue about a lot of things. I respect them so much and they’ve been so respectful to me.”
She was proud to be the first gay live-action superhero and commented that it was a "beautiful way to do something, especially since that was the first time it’s ever been done".
Rose has been replaced by Javicia Leslie as Batwoman, in the guise of new character Ryan Wilder.
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