Ruby Rose Reveals Real Reason She Left Batwoman, Slams Working Conditions

Former Batwoman star Ruby Rose took to social media this morning to make a number of explosive claims about The CW and Warner Bros. Television over the conditions that led to her exit. Rose, who was injured while filming the series, says she experienced unsafe and hostile working conditions, naming Batwoman producers, Warner Bros. executives, and co-stars Dougray Scott and Camrus Johnson in her story. Speculation has surrounded Rose’s exit, which came at the end of the show’s first season, with Rose’s injury usually at the center of the speculation. She has since shared videos and anecdotes from her surgery and recovery, but today’s statement is the most complete look at the experience she has offered yet.

It is not clear what motivated Rose to share her story now, but she begins it by saying “enough is enough.” She tagged not only the network, but Batwoman showrunner Caroline Dries and producers Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schecter in her Instagram story.

“I’m going to tell the whole world what really happend on that set,” Rose wrote. “I will come for you so that what happened to me never happens to another person again. And so I can finally take back my life and the truth. Shame on you.”

Rose alleged that longtime Warner Bros. Television chief Peter Roth, who left the studio at the end of 2020, hired a private investigator to get dirt on her, and then fired the investigator “as soon as the report didn’t fit your narrative.” She also accused him of inappropriate relationships with young women. Last week, Roth was the subject of a glowing write-up in industry trade magazine Variety after he capped his retirement with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Rose shared audio from a conversation apparently between her and her doctor, discussing her spinal injury sustained on the set of Batwoman, as well as re-sharing footage from the surgery, which she had previously posted online.

“Cut to 3 weeks after this video, it’s worse than abnormal,” Rose captioned the conversation. “This was diagnosed years ago on set but if I got an X-ray ‘we would make our day.’ I have documented this for years. On top of that, I have enough documentation to make a one-hour documentary. Pray tell what else would you like me to share, the broken neck or the broken rib split in two and the tumor?”

According to Rose, Roth told her that she would cost the studio millions and endanger the jobs of the cast and crew if she did not return to work right away. She addressed critics who said she looked “too stiff,” saying that she might have done better if the series had been rewritten to accommodate her injury and recovery time, rather than expecting her to get right back into the cape and cowl.

Following her injury, Rose was forced to opt out of Comic Con International in San Diego, unable to travel for the event. Today, she revealed that the studio had forced her to film a video announcement that she would not be attending, and told her to do her best to hide the scar on her neck in the video. According to Rose, Warner Bros. had threatened to remain silent on her absence and allow fans to show up to Comic Con and be disappointed if she did not accept those terms.

Following her exit, Rose cited the Covid-19 pandemic and production shutdown as playing a role in her decision (today, she says she was frustrated by the production’s deliberately slow response to the pandemic). For quite a while, she remained publicly supportive of the show, suggesting she might someday return and praising her replacement, Javicia Leslie (who plays a different character wearing the Batwoman costume).

Rose was not the only person injured on the set; in 2020, production assistant Amanda Smith was left paralyzed from the waist down following an accident during production on Batwoman. Rose also detailed a number of other instances of serious injury or near injury that she and members of the crew faced during her season on the show.

“So, in closing, please to my dear, dear fans, stop asking if I will return to that awful show,” Rose wrote, capping off her statement and videos with a lengthy final statement. “I wouldn’t return for any amount of money nor if a gun were to my head…NOR DID I QUIT. I DO NOT QUIT, they ruined Kate Kane and they destroyed Batwoman, not me. I followed orders, and if I wanted to stay I was going to have to sign my rights away. Any threats, any bullying tactics or blackmail will not mke me stand down. A crew member got third-degree burns over his whole body, and we were given no therapy after witnessing his skin fall of his face, but I was the only one who sent him flowers and cards, and then were told we had to do a sex scene without a minute ot process. We lost two stunt doubles, I got cut in the face so close to my eye in a stunt I could have been blind. 

“A woman was left quadriplegic and they tried to blame it on her being on her phone, so much so CW didn’t even help her to start with becuase they needed to “investigate” so she had to do a GoFundMe. She’s a PA, they work via phones. Her accident occurred becuase our show refused to shut down when everyone else did because of Covid. Caroline Dries has no heart and wanted us to finish the season throughout the pandemic and I told her it was a bad idea. I told her everyone was too distracted, constantly checking Covid updates, checking on friends, and seeing Riverdale, The Flash, and Supergirl shut down already, I felt something bad would happen. And Caroline Dries visited the set four times in a year — UNHEARD OF — but in those 4-5 visits she decided she could tell me she knew my injury happened on set so I should comply with the PI, yet later denied it entirely and said it happened during yoga — lol, I don’t do yoga. And now someone will never walk again. We shut down the next day…not because she almost killed someone but the government pulled it. 

“Also, I fought people on set, yes, not because I wanted to but because I wanted safety. Ask anyone in hair and makeup what I did for them, after two were hospitalized, the only people who came out and spoke was Dougray who…talk about unprofessional. Called my agent after my exit to find a way to leave which she replied, “break your neck I guess,” yet slammed me in the press. I never raised my voice, never have. Dougray hurt a female stunt double, he yelled like a little bitch at women, and was a nightmare. He left when he wanted and arrived when he wanted, he abused women, and in turn as a lead of a show I sent an email out asking for no-yelling policy, they declined. I was late one time, because I was in hospital. Whoever does these stupid leaks, I’ll find out who, but it’s Camrus, who after I left hospital said ‘Yeah, well, maybe if people were not late we would make our days.’ A kid, an egomaniac kid who worked one day a week had the audacity. Or the stunt department who were furious even though I never blamed them. But I went on Fallon and spoke of my injury, and didn’t play the game. Aside from them, I was loved and loved my crew. Oh, and they wouldn’t drive me to work and knew I couldn’t legally drive after surgery, so they said ‘Get a taxi.’”

After Rose’s departure, the part of Kate Kane was eventually recast, with Krypton star Wallis Day playing the role in a handful of episodes in order to give the character’s story closure. Much of the speculation around Rose’s exit assumed that following her injury, the movie star had trouble keeping up with the grueling schedule of being a TV lead, where long days are considered normal, and being #1 on the call sheet often means appearing in almost every scene and on call for the entire shoot.

Dougray Scott, who played Kate’s father Jacob, left the series at the end of its second season.

Update 10/20/2021, 2:45 p.m. ET: Warner Bros. Television disputed Rose’s version of events in a brief statement released this afternoon. You can read it here.