Ruby Rose leaves Batwoman - and other stars who exited major roles

Rose said the decision to leave had not been "made lightly"

The Australian actress Ruby Rose is to leave her role as comic book superhero Batwoman after just one series.

Rose said it had been a "very difficult decision" not to return to the show, which is shown in the UK on E4.

Batwoman, which began on the CW network last year, is the first superhero show to have an openly gay lead character.

Its producers said they were "firmly committed" to the show's "long-term" future and would re-cast the role with another member of the LGBTQ community.

Rose, who is herself gay, said she was "truly grateful... to everyone who made season one a success".

The 34-year-old said she had "the utmost respect" for everyone involved and that the decision to leave had not been "made lightly".

The actress played Kate Kane, aka Batwoman, in the US TV series

Rose faced a backlash on social media when she was cast as Batwoman, with some saying the role should have gone to a lesbian actress.

The actress, who has called herself "gender-fluid" in interviews, later deleted her Twitter profile, though she remains active on Instagram.

Last year Rose revealed she had suffered an injury while filming the series that had required her to undergo emergency surgery.

The actress said she had "herniated two discs doing stunts" - but Deadline reported the injury was not the reason for her departure.

Born in Melbourne in 1986, Rose played Stella Carlin in Orange is the New Black and has appeared in such films as Pitch Perfect 3 and The Meg.

Yet she is far from the first actor to leave or be replaced in a major film or TV show.

Stars who walked away

George Lazenby as James Bond

George Lazenby famously walked away from the role of James Bond after making just one appearance in the popular spy film series.

The model turned actor later admitted he had been persuaded by his then-manager - the late Ronan O'Rahilly - to seek other opportunities.

"I thought he knew what he was talking about so I listened to him," the Australian told an audience at the National Film Theatre last year.

Lazenby's single outing as Bond, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, was released in 1969 and is now a firm fan favourite.

Christopher Eccleston as The Doctor

Christopher Eccleston was cast as The Doctor when Doctor Who was relaunched in 2005 - but he departed after a single series.

The actor, who was replaced by David Tennant, later said he "didn't enjoy the environment and the culture" of the show.

• All the Doctors, from Hartnell to Whittaker

"My relationship with my three immediate superiors... broke down irreparably during the first block of filming and it never recovered," he elaborated in 2018.

The actor, currently to be seen in The A Word on BBC One, also said he had been "out of his comfort zone" playing the sci-fi drama's time-travelling hero.

Edward Norton in January 2020

Edward Norton was cast as Bruce Banner in 2008's The Incredible Hulk but did not reprise the role in Marvel Studios' subsequent comic-book blockbusters.

Its president Kevin Feige later said the role had been recast out of a "need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members".

Speaking last year, Norton called Feige's 2010 statement "cheap" and that his exit had been the result of differing views on how to depict the character.

"Ultimately they weren't going for long, dark and serious," said Norton, who was replaced by Mark Ruffalo when The Hulk returned in 2012's Avengers Assemble.

Terrence Howard, who played James "Rhodey" Rhodes in 2008's Iron Man, is another actor to be replaced in Marvel's superhero film series.

He later claimed he was offered less money than he had been promised to reprise the role, which Don Cheadle has played since 2010's Iron Man 2.

Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless in Cagney and Lacey

Sharon Gless played Christine Cagney in Cagney and Lacey for seven years, winning two Primetime Emmys and a Golden Globe for her pains.

Yet she was not the first actress to play the part in the popular US TV series about two female police detectives solving crimes in New York City.

Loretta Swit played Cagney in the original TV movie but was not able to continue in the role when the CBS show went to series.

Meg Foster was then cast, only to be replaced after six episodes because CBS allegedly wanted someone "more feminine" in the role.

Speaking in 2012, Gless praised her co-star Tyne Daly for "welcoming me as if she had not had anybody before me".

"I know her heart was hurting because she loved her last Cagney," she revealed.

When Men Behaving Badly first began in 1992, the two flatmates were played by Martin Clunes and Harry Enfield.

According to Clunes, though, the show that ITV produced did not match Enfield's hopes for it.

"His original vision was for it not to be like a usual sitcom," Clunes told The Guardian in 2013. "Then we made the pilot and it shocked him.

"You could see Harry wanted out," he continued. "He was under contract, though, so had to do one series."

Neil Morrissey was subsequently cast as Clunes' flatmate in the show, which continued on ITV for another series before being picked up by the BBC.

Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster both won Oscars for The Silence of the Lambs

Jodie Foster earned her second best actress Oscar for playing Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs - one of five Academy Awards Jonathan Demme's film won in 1992.

When the offer came to reprise her role in Hannibal, though, she turned it down - opening the door for Julianne Moore to appear with Anthony Hopkins in Ridley Scott's 2001 follow-up.

"I stand to make more money doing that sequel than I've ever made in my life," Foster was quoted as saying in 1999. "But who cares, if it betrays Clarice?"

"The official reason I didn't do Hannibal is I was doing another movie," she elaborated in 2005. "So I get to say, in a nice, dignified way, that I wasn't available when that movie was being shot."

Amusingly, however, Foster was enticed to reprise her FBI agent character in 2017 for a satirical sketch on Stephen Colbert's late-night US talk show.

You may also like:

• Burt Reynolds turned down Bond (and other stars who passed on big roles)

• TV feuds: 8 times co-stars just couldn't get along

• The actors who can't escape their on-screen characters