What's Actually Happening With Justice League Dark

Justice League Dark movie still

Warner Bros. has so many potential DC movies currently in development that it can be difficult to keep them all straight. One project, that has been in development hell for a while, is Justice League Dark. While there seem to be moments when this movie might finally break free and become something more than an idea, this is not one of those moments. Apparently, WB brought in some potential directors to make pitches for Justice League Dark, but the executives were not impressed by what they got, and now the script is being workshopped once again.

Justice League Dark is currently, as far as we know, a ship without a captain. Doug Liman had previously been on board to direct the movie, after it became clear that Guillermo del Toro wasn't going to get the chance to create his version of the property. However, since Liman left the film earlier this year, no replacement has been named. Based on the fact that Variety says multiple directors made pitches here, it sounds like this was partly an audition process, which it seems nobody passed.

As far as who is handling the new run at the script, we don't really know. Michael Gilio was the one who was handling it when Doug Liman was involved as the director and so we'll assume that he'll be the one making alterations to his existing work, though it would be far from shocking if the studio brought in somebody else to work with Gilio or even simply gave his old script to somebody else in order to get a fresh set of eyes on it.

While the DCEU just had its first unequivocal success with Wonder Woman, it seems that the only thing the company has been able to do following that is setup a sequel to that movie, which seems likely to happen. Justice League has been going through fairly significant reshoots that include, at the very least, changing the tone of entire characters. The proposed Flash movie is still without a director. Warner Bros. announced an extensive slate of movies at San Diego Comic-Con, but few of them seem to be set in stone. In short, a lot of the DC universe seems to be in a similar position as this project.

On the plus side, it would have been just as easy for Warner Bros. to scrap Justice League Dark entirely, but that didn't happen. Clearly, the studio still thinks there's something there that's worth pursuing and so the executives are going to have somebody take another swing at it. We're certainly hopeful that eventually, the movie will find whatever is missing. There's no need to rush with a story like this one and we'll wait years if that means a great movie is there at the end.

Dirk Libbey
Content Producer/Theme Park Beat

CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis.  Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.