Ruby Rose quits 'dream' Batwoman role - Sydney Morning Herald

Australian actor Ruby Rose has handed in her cowl and walked away from the US series Batwoman.

The role, which Rose once described as the fulfillment a childhood dream, will now be recast with a new actor when production on the show's second season resumes later this year.

Rose issued a statement to US media that said she had "made the very difficult decision to not return to Batwoman."

"This was not a decision I made lightly as I have the utmost respect for the cast, crew and everyone involved with the show," the Melbourne-born actor, 34, said.

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Rose said she was "beyond appreciative to [the show's producers] for not only giving me this incredible opportunity, but for welcoming me into the DC [Comics] universe they have so beautifully created."

Ruby Rose as Batwoman.Credit:Warner Bros

The series has been in the media spotlight because its Batwoman, introduced in the pages of comic books in 2006, is the first lesbian superhero character to lead a television series.

Casting Rose in the part was significant too, as the show's producers had wanted the part to go to an actor who was a member of the LGBTQI community.

Warner Bros Television and Berlanti Productions, who make the series, also issued a statement that thanked Rose "for her contributions to the success of our first season and [we] wish her all the best."

The studio statement said the show would take a "new direction" after Rose's departure and that she would be replaced with "a new lead actress and member of the LGBTQ community in the coming months."

There are historical precedents in Hollywood for a lead actor parting ways with a hit show, though not all end with the release of reciprocal statements of thanks.

The Walking Dead star Andrew Lincoln made a graceful exit in 2018, saying: "These guys have been the best surrogate family I could have hoped for. But I do have a real family and it is time for me to go home."

And actor Nicollette Sheridan, who had been cast as Alexis Carrington in the reboot of Dynasty, left that role in 2019. "I am profoundly grateful ... but the chance to spend precious time with my terminally ill mother is more important to me right now," Sheridan said.

Batwoman (Ruby Rose), Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) and Atom (Brandon Routh).Credit:Dean Buscher / The CW

But television history is full of less friendly farewells, such as actor John Amos' departure from Good Times in 1974 after complaining about the emphasis the show placed on the show's breakout character, J.J. And Suzanne Somers, one of the stars of Three's Company, was out in 1980 after asking for a pay rise to bring her salary onto an equal footing with her male co-star, John Ritter.

More recently, unfriendly farewells include Katherine Heigl from Grey’s Anatomy in 2010, Charlie Sheen from Two and a Half Men in 2011 and Thomas Gibson's departure from Criminal Minds in 2016.

Ruby Rose: "This was not a decision I made lightly as I have the utmost respect for the cast, crew and everyone involved with the show."Credit:Jordon Nuttall/The CW

The superhero TV genre, too, has an uneven history of successfully recasting a character. Dean Cain, Tom Welling and Tyler Hoechlin all played modern iterations of Superman on TV, but the 1970s iteration of Wonder Woman, actor Lynda Carter, proved impossible to recast until the character was relaunched on film in 2017.

The Batwoman character, though not as well known as either Batman or Batgirl, was first published in comic book form in 1956. At the time she was designed as a conventional love-interest for the Batman character.

The modern iteration of Batwoman, whose real identity is Gotham City heiress Kate Kane, is a cousin of Batman's alter-ego Bruce Wayne, who is of Jewish descent and a lesbian.

Production on the Batwoman series, which airs on the US network The CW and in Australia on Foxtel, was halted after filming 20 of 22 episodes planned for its first season because of the Coronavirus pandemic.

The series was renewed for a second season in January; the second season is not expected on air until early 2021.

With around one million viewers on the relatively small US network The CW, the show is part of one of Warner Bros' most valuable TV franchises, based on characters from the DC Comics franchise and narratively connected to other television series including Supergirl, Arrow and The Flash.

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2020-05-20 01:01:11Z
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