The DC Extended Universe (DCEU) has long been plagued with projects being left on the back burner for years or just straight up getting cancelled. Batgirl is one of the many recent cancellations announced as a result of the Warner Bros. Discovery takeover.
The film was first announced in March 2017 with Avengers director Joss Whedon set to write, direct and produce the film. Following the extremely poorly received Justice League (2017), Whedon walked away from the project in February 2018. Given the allegations that later came out against him from former Buffy the Vampire Slayer stars, Whedon was probably not the best person to direct a female-led film.
The project seemed to have been shelved with no news until mid-2021 when the new directors Adil El Arbi and Billal Fallah, who had previously worked on Bad Boys For Life (2020) together, were announced and Batgirl was announced to be a HBO Max exclusive release. This was shortly followed up with the casting of Leslie Grace (In The Heights) in the titular role, with the first look at her in costume shared via her Instagram in January 2022.
Fleshing out the cast was J.K. Simmons (Whiplash) reprising his role as Commissioner Jim Gordon from Justice League and Brendan Fraser (The Mummy) starring as the antagonist Firefly. Of course, it had been assumed that Batman would appear in the film, but the question was which one? In a surprise move, Michael Keaton was announced to be reprising the role from Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1991) and is also set to appear in The Flash (2023).
Heartbreakingly, it appears that the cast and crew were not notified prior to the announcements.
Batgirl was announced to have been scrapped with no plans of release this August, despite the fact that the $90m (£73.3m) shoot had been finished and was in post-production. Heartbreakingly, it appears that the cast and crew were not notified prior to the announcements. It was first rumoured that the cancellation was due to poor reactions at test screenings but a statement from the Warner Bros. Discovery earning call suggests that the company is developing a 10-year plan similar to Marvel and Batgirl just did not fit the wider plans for establishing a cinematic universe. It seems a shame that all of the cast and crew’s hard work will never be seen by an audience and sets a worrying precedent that projects that far into production can just be scrapped by executives.
