Born: 1966 (now defunct Official Kindred Site stated that Caitlin was 30)
Embraced: Never Embraced.
Died: Still living

Clan: Human
Sired by: N/A
Sired: N/A

Significant Other: Julian Luna
Family: One child, a daughter,  which she gave up for adoption at the
               instigation of her parents. (Bad Moon)

Position: City Editor of the San Francisco Time. 

Other: Since she became pregnant at seventeen and was abandoned by
            her daughter's father, Caitlin has been unable to trust a man
            enough to become intimate with him. Until her encounter with the
            Nosferatu, Camilla, who took away her fears allowing her to
            become Julian's lover.

Caitlin is driven and focused, her reporter's instinct leads her to seek out Julian Luna for an article in the San Francisco Times, for which she works. After Julian buys the paper she is promoted to the position of City Editor. Her classical beauty attracts the Kindred Prince, and his desire to get close to her puts them both in immense danger.

Caitlin prides herself on having a strong moral and ethical code, and rarely believes anything until she has seen it with her own eyes. She is immediately attracted to Julian, but initially refrains from becoming involved. Knowing that the rumors of him being a violent and ruthless mobster could be true, she seeks to find the truth before committing herself.

Her relationship with Julian seems doomed to fail as Caitlin erects barriers between them based upon her past. At the age of seventeen Caitlin became pregnant by her then boyfriend who, having convinced her he was in love with her, left her. Abandoned and confused, Caitlin bowed to pressure of her parents and friends and gave her baby daughter up for adoption. From that time until the present she has been unable to trust a man enough to become intimate with him. It isn't until she meets the Nosferatu Camilla that she is able to confront her feelings and put them in the past where they belong, leaving her open to be loved by Julian.

As well as a relentless nose for a news story, Caitlin tenaciously pursues Julian's past, wanting to know exactly who it is she is falling in love with. This backfires in the end when she takes him back to his ancestral home of Manzanita Springs (Cabin). Unbeknownst to her, she almost signs her lover's death warrant, by exposing him to the Brujah who want his head and crown. It is as he lies dying that Julian finally tells Caitlin what he really is. Her reaction is predictable; she is in love and will stand by her man, but given the obvious dangers involved she is never given that option.

I never quite connected with the character of Caitlin Byrne in any meaningful way. To me she is a mass of contradictory traits that were never really resolved. It is clear that the writers were aiming for a Lois Lane character when they initially introduced Caitlin. The only problem is that while Lois kicked ass, Caitlin was painted as the soft homebody type with her mind on work before play. Add in a hotchpotch of hang ups, and Caitlin was born.

Instead of being enchanted by her obvious good nature, I was pretty much just bored by her. In her first appearance (Prince) she was supposed to be a relentless news hound, out to pin Julian into a corner but I was never convinced that she had the ruthlessness or killer instinct to make Julian bat an eye, let alone make him uncomfortable. Bluntly, she just wasn't tough enough. The reason soon became apparent, she was to be the love interest.

I enjoy a good romance in a TV show, God knows I watched Moonlighting for long enough, but with Caitlin and Julian there was little or no chemistry. All it did was left me wondering what in the hell Julian saw in her to begin with, let's face it he's a vampire, he's not going to care whether she's a great cook, however many compliments he pays her. The only word that really seems to fit Caitlin is 'nice'. I did find some of their scenes hard to watch, with this apparently worldly journalist becoming little more than a simpering doormat in her lover's presence.

With a little work it could have been a very different story; what if the writers had made the character more edgy, had her really digging into Julian's world instead of forever being on the periphery? What would have happened if she'd taken Frank's accusations more seriously, and made Archon more uncomfortable? It would have been interesting to see Julian and his sire conflict more over the Caitlin issue.

All in all I find Caitlin a very two dimensional character, and I lay the blame for that at the feet of the writers. Not having appeared in the Pilot, it seems that Caitlin was an afterthought, and one that didn't ever hit it's mark. Like with so many of the other characters, this might have been dealt with in time. I have nothing but respect for Kelly Rutherford, who did a really good job with so very little. The only episode that really seemed to give her anything to play with was Cabin In The Woods, which at least gave her the opportunity to show her range.