Promising Young Woman helmer Emerald Fennell is set to write the superhero movie Zatanna for Warner Bros. Just recently, it was confirmed that a Zatanna project was in the works at the studio, but no additional details were provided at the time. Now, Variety reports that Zatanna will be a theatrically-released movie written by Fennell with DC Films producing alongside J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Productions.

A part of the DC Extended Universe, Zatanna will mark the first time the character has been seen in the DCEU. At this time, the role hasn't yet been cast for the upcoming movie, but the search for the new Zatanna is currently underway. The magician superhero was previously portrayed by Serinda Swan in the CW series Smallville, but a live-action incarnation still has yet to appear on the big screen.

Emerald Fennell is known for writing and directing the hit movie Promising Young Woman, which starred Carey Mulligan as a woman who seeks to avenge the rape of her best friend. A critical success, the movie was up for five nominations at the Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress for Mulligan, and Best Director for Fennell. As an actress, Fennell recently had a recurring role on The Crown as Camilla Parker Bowles.

First appearing in DC Comics in 1964, Zatanna was created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Murphy Anderson. Boasting the traditional look complete with a top hat and bow tie, she works as a stage magician but is in fact a real magician with superhuman abilities. She is known for her interactions with the Justice League and currently serves as a part of the titular team in DC's Justice League Dark series. Camilla Luddington also voiced Zatanna in a Justice League Dark animated movie adaptation in 2017.

It was also recently confirmed that a Batgirl project is happening at Warner Bros. along with Zatanna. In 2018, Birds of Prey writer Christina Hodson had reportedly signed on to write a Batgirl movie for Warner Bros. Because she has since teamed up with director Andy Muschietti to write The Flash, it's not clear when Batgirl will enter development, but Hodson provided an update on the project in an interview with The Los Angeles Times last year.

"[Batgirl's] all the things I love about Batman," she said. "I've always been more interested in humans than supernatural things and monsters. People are capable of profound good, but also profound evil. The things that people will do when you back them into a corner are amazing, terrifying, and wonderful at the same time, and it draws out these primal things in us - good and bad. And that, to me, is so fascinating."

The Variety report only states that Fennell is writing the Zatanna movie, and it's not yet clear if she'll also sitting in the director's chair. As an Oscar-nominated director, it stands to reason Warner Bros. would want her to helm the movie as well, but that may come down to scheduling or how much Fennell is interested. This news comes to us from Variety.