Danielle Panabaker played the role of Dr. Caitlin Snow, also known as Killer Frost, on The CW series The Flash (2014 – 2023). Panabaker was a core cast member of the show throughout the series, playing both friend and foe to Grant Gustin’s Flash.
Despite a successful nine-season run and even starring in the Arrowverse crossovers, Danielle Panabaker has slowly fallen into obscurity since the end of the show. A lot of the reasons aren’t her fault, but some of them appear to be suspiciously so. Here are seven reasons why Hollywood simply won’t cast Danielle Panabaker anymore.
1. Danielle Panabaker Has Been Typecast Her Entire Career
Daniella Panabaker has often played intelligent, wholesome, and supportive characters throughout her career, putting her into the “good girl” typecast role. She started out her career in Disney Channel roles, which began the process a little too early.
In the early 2000s, Panabaker starred in Disney Channel movies such as Stuck in the Suburbs, Read It and Weep, and Sky High, where she was largely cast as the relatable, responsible, and smart girl. Panabaker found it tough to break out of being in the support cast and often played a romantic interest. Here is an overview of the majority of roles she played.
Her role in The Flash was a natural progression following her Disney days, as she played another wholesome and romantic interest. Her alter ego, Killer Frost, pushed the role a little bit into a layered side but didn’t stray too far.
2. Danielle Panabaker Complained Publicly About Co-Stars’ Behavior
Two years after the end of The Flash, in August 2025, Danielle Panabaker appeared on the Inside of You podcast, hosted by Michael Rosenbaum, to discuss the frustrating process of working on set with her co-stars.
She kept the names anonymous but didn’t hold back on her criticism:
Because I really pride myself on being punctual and prepared and knowing my lines and doing my best and not everyone works that way. And it’s hard. It was hard for me when I felt like bad behavior was being rewarded, when people who weren’t behaving the same way I was, were receiving better, different, whatever treatment.
But at end of the day, it’s like it’s my job to keep my side of the street clean. Like, I can just focus on myself and decide. And that’s what you know, you know how it is when you sign on to a show. Your contract is for six years, you don’t really have a lot of wiggle room for those first many, many, years.
When it came time to negotiate at various points, it truly is that moment where you have to sit down and sit with yourself and say, ‘Okay like if I make this deal, if I accept this deal, then I have accepted it. I can’t say yes and then be mad that I said yes for the next 365 days.
This definitely did not help her remain in the good books of producers or co-stars, which adds to an unfair reputation of being perceived as a whistleblower.
3. Danielle Panabaker Was a Target Of Multiple Racist Allegations
In 2020, multiple fans took to social media to suggest that Danielle Panabaker be booted off The Flash for racism. Panabaker made a move that piqued everyone’s curiosity as being very suspicious.
In June 2020, she mass-deleted thousands of tweets from her Twitter account, dumping around 7,000 tweets, taking her from 7.8k to 398 tweets. (via Pajiba) This came in the wake of Hartley Sawyer being fired from The Flash for racist, sexist, and homophobic tweets.
After the murder of George Floyd, many celebrities, including Panabaker’s co-stars, were using their platforms to post about systemic racism, police brutality, and Black Lives Matter in general. Panabaker, on the other hand, was busy posting about flowers before putting up a video ad on her Instagram stories.
4. Danielle Panabaker Was Often Called a “Performative Activist”
Following the social media scrutiny during the BLM movement, Danielle Panabaker posted a couple of stories about Black Lives Matter, including a chain-mail-type Instagram story tagging several other people to repost. Many were quick to notice that she hadn’t posted anything until then.
Danielle panabaker was able to post for over a month after giving birth. She made literally THIRTY posts, an ad even, but it's absolute crickets when it comes to blm. The newborn argument doesn't work here, she didn't post because she doesn't care. pic.twitter.com/EKe7eYDwx7
Finally, Panabaker reposted Shirien Damra’s art portrait of George Floyd to her main page, turned off the comments, and disappeared from social media altogether.
5. Danielle Panabaker Enabled The Flash’s Toxic Fandom
Danielle Panabaker frequently interacted with fans online to promote the “Snowbarry” ship of her character and the Flash’s relationship. This led to a toxic part of the fanbase targeting and harassing co-star Candice Patton, who played Iris West. Iris West and Barry Allen were “WestAllen”, a ship that Panabaker largely ignored when Patton was being attacked online by racists and misogynists.
All Danielle Panabaker had to do was to play her supporting role, act her wage and support her black female lead when going through racial harassment, but no she had to use nepotism, white feminism, and racist tendencies to get what she wanted. I hope she enjoys unemployment! pic.twitter.com/CGlEEXGKlc
Co-star Grant Gustin defended Patton publicly, but Panabaker remained silent once again, proving that her stance was with the toxic fandom. She prioritised maintaining her own popularity by undermining her co-star and enabling toxic behavior. Ironic, considering that she was the one who slammed the production for being rewarded for bad behavior.
6. Danielle Panabaker Was Criticized For a Limited Acting Range
Danielle Panabaker has faced frequent criticism from both fans and critics regarding her limited acting range, especially during her long tenure as Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost on The Flash. Many argue she often displayed little variation in emotional expression and struggled with more intense, dramatic scenes. Here are key details regarding the show.
It was evident that the talent disparity between her and the leads of the show was wide, with many finding her performance to be bland or flat. Not surprising, considering that she was typecast into similar roles her entire career, with less breathing space to explore her acting range.
7. Danielle Panabaker Spoke Out Against CW Pay Disputes
On the same podcast with Michael Rosenbaum, Danielle Panabaker spoke out against pay disputes that CW was causing. She said that actors would get written out if they asked for more cash and added (via ScreenRant):
Talk about fights with Warner Bros, this was one of the first surprises to me. So in Flash’s first season, they did the first crossover and it was just The Flash and Arrow.
It was Stephen Amell, David [Ramsey] and Emily [Bett Rickards] crossing over to The Flash, and Grant [Gustin], Carlos [Valdes] and I crossed over to Arrow. And the offer to do two jobs at the same time — to do the same role — when we guest-starred on Arrow, it was top of show. So at the time, less than $10,000. This was the first inclination of like, ‘Oh!’ to me. ‘This is crazy. You hired me to play the role of Caitlin Snow…’
‘You’re going to do this job at the same time, and you’re going to work twice as hard. So you’re doing two jobs, we’re going to pay you a fraction of what you’re paid to do that job on The Flash.’
Speaking out against producers is often a bad thing, despite the unfairness that she was paid less for her role. This likely caused a bad reputation to be cemented in the industry, leading to fewer gigs in the future.
Danielle Panabaker has largely faded away into anonymity, but her role in The CW shows will always be remembered.
What do you think of Panabaker? Let us know in the comments.
The Flash is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.
