Warner Bros. Discovery's decision to scrap Batgirl when the movie was nearly finished remains one of the most shocking news stories of 2022. While the backlash has mostly died down, directors Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi have understandably been asked a lot about the controversial move while doing the rounds to promote their new movie, Rebel.
When The Hollywood Reporter recently caught up with the filmmakers, the trade asked if they remain open to working with the studio again.
"Yeah, we’d still work with them," Fallah responded, far more diplomatically than most might. "But on the condition that the movie comes out. I mean, if Warner says, 'Do you want to do the next Batman or Superman?,' of course we’ll say yes. Just so long as the movie comes out!"
The duo, who also helmed episodes of Ms. Marvel, got the chance to work with Michael Keaton on Batgirl as the actor reprised his role as the Dark Knight from Tim Burton's Batman movies and next year's The Flash. After working with an older Caped Crusader (who was set to serve as Barbara Gordon's mentor), Fallah and Arbi have one specific project in mind.
"You know, maybe in the future...when Batman is not being made by Matt Reeves...Batman Beyond is really super cool," Arbi suggests. "And I just saw that and thought that’s really badass. So who knows? Maybe in the future one day if they ask us to do that, we wouldn’t say no. But you can dream, right?"
A future DCU movie might not be as unlikely as it seems, either.
Noting that The Suicide Squad director James Gunn reached out to offer his support following Batgirl's cancellation, Arbi said that while they've yet to talk with him formally as the new co-CEO of DCU Studios, "the meetings are in the books."
With Gunn and Peter Safran putting together a slate of new interconnected movies, TV shows, and video games for Warner Bros., there might just be room for something Batman Beyond-related after all...