Back in May, Ruby Rose surprised a lot of people when she announced that she will be leaving CW’s Batwoman after one season. The news made many raise their eyebrows as it’s not every day you see the lead leave a TV series after one season. The titular character has since been replaced by Javicia Leslie.
What’s even more peculiar is that Ruby Rose didn’t actually provide a reason for leaving the show. Following her departure, sources told TV Line, “It wasn’t 100-percent her decision. It was a breakup. She wasn’t happy working on the show, and did that make her fun to work with? No. So everyone decided it would be in the best interests of the show, and for all concerned, if they parted ways. It just wasn’t a good fit.”
But five months out, and it looks like Rose is finally ready to open up about why she decided to leave. A lot of it has to do with the injuries she sustained. In an interview with EW, Rose said:
“Being the lead of a superhero show is tough. [Laughs] Being the lead in anything is tough. 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.”
However, Rose said that it wasn’t just the injuries that pushed her to exit the show. She made the decision after taking some time to reflect.
“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. 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. I think it was actually a beautiful way to do something, especially since that was the first time it’s ever been done — the first time Batwoman has ever been played in live-action and that she was LGBTQ. I’m very honored to have been able to play her.”
But Rose says there’s no bad blood between her and the Batwoman producers.
“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. And I love my experience in [Batwoman]. I’m so grateful that we got to achieve everything that we did and I’m proud of everyone that worked on it. 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.”
