HBO Max has pulled the plug on Zatanna. Last year, it was announced that Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) had been tapped to write the screenplay for a Zatanna adaptation. Fennell would later tease the dark story she had in mind for the film while speaking about the project with Empire last summer.

"There are lots of things about her that felt like they could be really, really interesting," Fennell said. "And it'll be an opportunity to make something really quite dark. And that appealed to me, to make something big and scary. I love that stuff.

On working on a high-budget superhero project, the filmmaker added, "The scale of [these movies] is so massive and so thrilling. Like, why wouldn't you want to write something like that when you can write huge, massive, crazy sequences and fights? Normally you're like, how can I show this in the smallest cheapest way [laughs]? To have complete freedom to really let your imagination run wild is such a joy."

Unfortunately, it has since been revealed that Zatanna has endured a major setback. There had been speculation that the future of the adaptation was in jeopardy after the cancelation of Batgirl, another DC movie that had even completed filming before it was surprisingly scrapped. However, according to a new report from THR detailing future plans at Warner Bros. Discovery for the DCEU, it has been revealed that Zatanna has been scrapped along with the planned Constantine series separate from the upcoming Keanu Reeves sequel. Both projects are said to be now getting shopped to other streaming platforms, so it's still possible one or the other will find a new home elsewhere, though it's just as likely both end up fizzling out.

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Zatanna's Movie Has Been a Long Time Coming, But Will It Really Happen?

The Zatanna character was created by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson, first appearing in an issue of Hawkman in 1964. Though she has a day job as a stage magician, Zatanna genuinely has mystical powers that she uses to fight crime. In comic book lore, she has battled baddies alongside the Justice League as well as Justice League Dark.

When it comes to adaptations, Zatanna has appeared in animated DC projects. In live-action, a version of Zatanna appeared in Smallville as played by Serinda Swan. She has yet to make her debut in the live-action DCEU, however. At one point, it was reported that Guillermo del Toro wanted to use her for a Justice League Dark project that never came to fruition, and there were rumors (that were later debunked) that James Gunn was going to include her in The Suicide Squad. In any case, with the Zatanna movie getting shopped, fans can still hold out hope that the movie will still end up happening.

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