James Gunn is riding high on a wave of love for the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special right now, but he is already hard at work on his new job over as the head of DC Studios. While there is still to be a formal announcement of where the DCU will be heading in the next decade, the first four years of which, at least, will be under the guidance of Gunn and Peter Safran, the writer-director has said there will be a greater connection coming to the DC output across all platforms. He also revealed that despite the recent decimation of HBO Max DC output, there will be more TV shows coming.
The original interconnected DC Universe seemed to be heading down the right path under the direction of Zack Snyder. After bringing Superman back to prominence in Man of Steel, the director’s middling Batman vs Superman was to be followed by the Justice League team-up that should have rivaled Marvel’s Avengers. However, circumstances dictated otherwise, and the DCU became fractured and full of movies that did not connect with each other, or, in the main, with audiences.
The recent shake-up of the DCU has now seen Gunn and Safran being brought in to oversee the entire DCU output, and it looks like one of the first things Gunn wants to do is make sure that everything is on the same page, and help deliver both movies and TV shows that help push the franchise to new heights. When asked on Twitter if more DC TV shows are being planned, Gunn responded:
“Yes, most definitely, the DCU will be connected across film and TV (and animation).”
Gunn then elaborated to say that there will be new 2D and 3D animated projects coming but has yet to reveal what they could be. With Gunn already having a second season of Peacemaker and another project coming to HBO Max in the next year or so, it will be interesting how the TV arm of the DCU continues to expand.
Will We See Superman in a New HBO Max TV Series?
There was a time when the thought of Henry Cavill playing Superman in the TV show would have been completely unthinkable. However, times have changed and there is every chance that some of the DCU’s biggest stars could well end up showing up in TV series in the future. Jason Momoa and Ezra Miller have already appeared in the final episode of James Gunn’s Peacemaker, with the other Justice League members also appearing in silhouette form. The next time we see them, it could be the real thing.
Overall, the changes at Warner Bros. Discovery have brought an end to some popular DC TV shows as well as the unprecedented scrapping of the Batgirl movie. However, for the long-term future of the franchise, there have been a lot of steps taken to ensure what comes next for the DCU is something that will take its time to build up an audience before hopefully delivering on its promises.