Caity Lotz had cemented herself as a series regular in the Arrowverse, portraying Sara Lance after making her debut in Arrow in 2013. Sara, known by her alias White Canary, also appeared in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow before its eventual cancellation in 2022.
Caity Lotz has struggled to land significant roles in Hollywood during and after her stint as the Canary. Lotz has been the subject of criticism and numerous controversies on social media, so let’s break down seven reasons why Hollywood is averse to Caity Lotz.
1. Caity Lotz Faced Severe Backlash Due To Activism Controversies
Caity Lotz had stirred up trouble during her Arrowverse run, but for reasons outside the production. Pajiba reported that shortly after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Lotz took to Twitter to post a quote by Ginsburg, and deleted it soon after:
I love America and Americans. I love the people who will vote for Biden, and I love the people who will vote for Trump. “You can disagree without being reasonable” #RIPRBG
Following this, she changed her header to include the American flag with “KKK” written among the words. Lotz claimed she didn’t realize this, but by then it was more about damage control. (via Pajiba) In late 2017, she co-founded SheThority with The Flash’s Candice Patton, a digital space that was meant to celebrate, educate, and discuss the experiences of women from all backgrounds.
Candice Patton, along with Lotz, came under fire when both of them failed to address issues black women faced, making it a safe space only for white women.
Shethority: A company founded by Caity Lotz AND Candice Patton advocating for intersectionality and feminism
Danielle Panabaker: Caity founded it *erases Candice for the 957388 time* Caity worked hard *names more white women who really ain’t done shit* EQUALITY *supports racist* pic.twitter.com/KzjO9mxjYx
Caity Lotz was the subject of controversy even in the LGBTQ+ community when she posted a tweet supporting Jordan Peterson’s work, a known transphobe, despite her character on Arrow be ing queer. (via fangirlish)
Caity Lotz supporting the transphobic ghoul Jordan Peterson, the man who radicalized thousands of young and lonely white men online
He also advocates deadnaming, enforced monogamy, an all-beef diet to cure depression(?), and is anti-Marxist while having never read Marx before pic.twitter.com/cTXYxqK8x9
We’ve barely scratched the surface when it comes to Caity Lotz’s Twitter feuds with fans, but it’s safe to say that she lost a majority of goodwill over time, as fangirlish said that “all it took was a series of tweets for Caity Lotz to ruin our love for Sara Lance from DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.”
2. Typecast As An Action Actress Is a Prison For Lotz
Caity Lotz has had a decade of television work in action that appears to have pigeonhole her into the genre. Throughout her Arrowverse tenure and subsequent projects like The Lockdown and Yoga Teacher Killer: The Kaitlin Armstrong Story, she’s repeatedly cast in physically demanding roles that require martial arts skills. Here are all the action roles she’s taken on.
In an interview with MMA Knockout, Lotz herself acknowledges her choice to be in action roles:
I was excited. I love martial arts, and I always wanna do more action stuff. I kind of got my start with dance and and then doing stunts. So, it’s part of my first love.
Caity Lotz’s limited Hollywood career may be a direct result of her imprisoning herself in the action genre, but let’s not rule out another sad possibility – Hollywood action roles seldom need depth.
3. Limited Acting Range Was a Common Criticism
Most CW actors have found themselves stuck in the television space, with roles quite similar to what they’ve taken on. Caity Lotz herself admits to being biased, in an interview with Variety:
I’m good with action — it’s sort of my specialty — and they made sure to write a very action-heavy episode for me.
Caity Lotz’s action-thriller work has often put her in roles that aren’t demanding beyond physical stunts and choreography. Fans and critics have praised her physicality for the roles she’s taken on, but when it came to her acting, the Canary left the cage.
For the low-budget The Pact (2012), the flick received mixed reviews, with half the audience resonating with Lotz’s character while the other half found her acting to be stiff. (via IMDb) The Machine (2013) saw Lotz in a dual role, with many calling her performance “B-grade” or “flat”, lacking the depth required to pull off the titular role. (via IMDb)
The action-oriented roles she’s taken on have not allowed her to explore the nuances of dramatic acting, further putting her in a box. If you’ve acted well, you’ll get good films. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for our Canary.
4. Caity Lotz’s Film Career Was a Box Office Disaster
Caity Lotz’s attempt at establishing herself as a star in action films has failed at the box office repeatedly. In the film The Pact (2012), she did manage to pull in good numbers, earning $5,664,404 against an estimated $400,000 budget. (via BoxOfficeMojo)
Unfortunately, her following lead role in The Machine (2013), despite earning her a BIFA nomination for Most Promising Newcomer, generated only $205,715 at the box office (via BoxOfficeMojo).
Her 2024 flick The Lockdown saw her once again in a lead action role, but unfortunately, the low-budget film had a limited release, with no publicly disclosed box office numbers. Her film Yoga Teacher Killer: The Kaitlin Armstrong Story (2024) was a Lifetime television movie, seeing no major theatrical release.
This could only mean that CW actors have not broken their curse, leaving us wondering where their careers are headed.
5. Lotz’s Industry Relationships Were Damaged
The Legends of Tomorrow star was candid about her experience on set in an episode of Michael Rosenbaum’s podcast Inside of You, which was recorded just before the show’s cancellation. Caity Lotz stated (via ScreenRant):
There was nobody from L.A., no writers, no producers, anybody up in Vancouver, so they had no idea what the conditions were like on set. And we had a few actors at the time that really did not want to be there. Everyone in Vancouver was not in charge. They had to just get it done, like what L.A. says to do. And then L.A. started sending people up, like a writer up to make that bridge, and then we got a producing director, and that helped a lot.
Legends of Tomorrow was criticized for taking itself too seriously, and Lotz’s comments directly referencing the producers and writers did not help the show’s image or her own. Producers value discretion, with issues preferred to be solved internally. Following the cancellation, it’s easy to see that industry folk did not like her tattle-tell nature.
6. Age and Gender Discrimination For Action Roles
Caity Lotz is 38 years old. Lotz has reached an age where she faces brutal discrimination for being an action-centric female lead in Hollywood. Very few have managed to crack the spotlight like Gal Gadot with Wonder Woman, Charlize Theron, and Emily Blunt.
charlize theron and emily blunt in action films https://t.co/LoZPztx6lT
Lotz still lacks the star power to propel her into Hollywood A-list roles. With a string of movies that have either underperformed or gone straight to television, and with all the controversy surrounding her comments and box office failures, it’s hard to imagine that producers are eager to fund her.
7. Lotz Pivoted To Directing During Her Acting Career
Lotz made her directorial debut in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Season 5, Episode 5, “Mortal Khanbat,” and was praised for her work at the helm. This pivot to being behind the scenes was a signal to industry professionals. In the interview with Variety, she talks about her experience:
The program is like a boot camp. It’s less about the creative side of it and more about the rigors of TV — working with all of the different departments and on your first day of prep, what happens? What can be expected? When you go on the tech scout where does the director sit on the bus? Just the logistics and rules of what people will expect from you.
Here is a list of the episodes that she has directed on her run during DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.
If you thought that Hollywood isn’t the only one that doesn’t cast her anymore, she herself mentioned that she wants to “distance herself from the Hollywood scene” in the Inside of You podcast.
What is your opinion of Caity Lotz in Hollywood? Let us know in the comments.
