The Arrowverse was on quite a ride when they greenlit the Batwoman show starring Ruby Rose as Kate Kane. The CW Network wanted more variety and star power since they were about to put a lock on Arrow, the show that started it all. Batwoman was the perfect substitute. Using Kate Kane, they could bring Batman lore into the Arrowverse without actually bringing the real Bruce Wayne to the front lines. The show made perfect sense.
But after just one season, Ruby Rose, the lead actor, announced that she was leaving The CW network due to undisclosed reasons. Despite the hatred with the Batwoman show, it still scored some brownie points. So Rose’s departure was sad news.
Her tenure as Batwoman came to a quick end in May 2020 right when the COVID-19 pandemic was on a wild streak of its own throughout the planet. Fans thought the real reason Rose was made to leave was because of the show’s low approval ratings by viewers. But Batwoman is apparently coming back for another season. The release date for Batwoman Season 2 is January 2021 as revealed by The CW. The mystery behind Ruby Rose’s exit caught even more steam after that piece of news. Was Rose forced to opt out of the show? Was WB or the Network involved in some way? Did Ruby Rose piss off all the wrong people? Nobody knew the real reason behind her leaving the show.
Also read: Everything That is Going to Change in the Arrowverse from 2021
Well now we do. Ruby Rose was pretty discreet when she gave an official explanation right after her exit from Batwoman. The network also corroborated her statement with a somewhat similar comment. The mystery just kept getting thicker and tighter with each passing day. While we will not go so far as to say that fans were ‘devastated’ with Rose not being Batwoman anymore, it surely intrigued them to know her reasons for not being a part of the Arrowverse anymore. She finally opened up recently, giving us some valuable inferences as to what transpired during the days before she opted out of the Red Wig.
During a recent interview, Ruby Rose opened up about some very complicated questions directed at her. She reveals that the recent coronavirus pandemic gave her a lot of time to think and retrospect regarding where her life was going. She said the lockdown gave her the distance she needed to think back on some really important stuff. This is what she had to offer:
“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.”
We are all about Ruby Rose trying to find meaning and purpose in her life. But we call bull-shit. There has to be more concrete reasons for her departure. Maybe her introspection played a part but the primary catalysts had to be something else. The following could be some reasons.
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During her interview, Rose claimed that she was having a tough time being the lead in a flagship show. Being the lead protagonist in a series that has around 20 episodes really sucks the time and energy out of you. With a thinly veiled tinge of tiredness, she said that being the lead in a superhero show is a tough job. Being the lead in any show for that matter is extremely taxing emotionally and physically. The strain of maintaining an image is too much for anybody. It is now wonder Stephen Amell, who plays Oliver Queen aka the Green Arrow, and Grant Gustin aka the Flash in the Arrowverse, are so physically fit. It is not everybody’s cup of tea.
But for Ruby Rose, things were even tougher. Rose suffered an incapacitating back surgery that almost ended her career while she was performing a stunt during the shooting of Batwoman. The herniated spinal discs were probably a major reason why she was not ready to be an action star again. Rose went so far as to vocally state that the injuries were not the reason for her decision to depart from the series but we all know it played a huge role in all this. Ruby Rose was heard saying that the injuries only made the filming even tougher and acting the part was even more difficult than it already was.
“I think, in that particular instance, it was a lot more difficult because I was still recovering from my surgery. 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. […] 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.”
The show also gave her a lot of time constraints. Just days after she had her back surgery, she was called in to report for work. Rose was not ready to act as the lead just yet. She needed time to recover. Rose said that “most people take about a month or three off before they return to work”. Ruby Rose got 10 days:
“The challenge is sort of outweighed. The accomplishment and the trust that people put in you to do that role and then there’s also the vibrancy of being able to come on set and set the mood and the tone and the trust being put into it is something that’s been such an honor. I’m proud of myself for working under sort of interesting circumstances, you know, with the recovery and all. I would definitely do [TV] again. I just think that it was also time for me to take a break to fully heal and then return.”
Also Read: All Arrowverse Shows Delayed Due to COVID-19
When Ruby Rose that the veteran actor Javicia Leslie will be replacing her as the new Kate Kane/Batwoman, she claims she was both “proud” and ”happy” to hear the news. Ruby Rose states she will still be a fan of the Arrowverse and will avidly follow Batwoman Season 2. But this time she will be sitting on the other side of the screen as a viewer. Rose’s tenure as Batwoman was a short and bitter-sweet love story. Let’s hope Javicia Leslie can carry the torch forward.
Source: EW
