Following the news that DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran have parted ways with Skydance (the conglomerate formed when Paramount merged with Warner Bros. Discovery), new details have been revealed by The Wall Street Journal's Ben Fritz.
According to the entertainment industry reporter, Gunn and Safran only learned that they'd been fired "in just the last few days." Fritz confirms that they were "ousted" from their respective positions—meaning they were fired; they didn't quit—but adds that they may have decided against sticking around, regardless.
Why? Well, at Warner Bros. Discovery, they only had to report to the company's CEO, David Zaslav. After the merger, the expectation was that they'd work under Skydance film chiefs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, robbing Gunn and Safran of the autonomy they'd enjoyed since being hired at the tail end of 2022.
This explains those rumblings that Safran was being eyed to take over Netflix's film division, but doesn't explain why both he and Gunn have expressed such strong support for their new employers and continued to tease their plans for the DCU in recent interviews.
It seems likely that their firing did come as a shock, especially as Gunn was hyping up his plans at the Clayface premiere and recently launched a podcast to make his 2021 DCEU movie, The Suicide Squad, part of DCU canon. It sounds like Skydance began talks with new DC Studios boss Jeremy Latcham some time ago, though.
Here's where things get really interesting, though. According to Fritz, "Gunn [and] Safran are debuting Wonder Woman in 'Man of Tomorrow,' hoped to [introduce] the DCU Batman in 'The Brave and the Bold' in 2028, and were aiming for Gunn-directed Superman sequels that low-key evolved into Justice League in 2029 and 2031."
It seems Gunn did have a plan for the DCU that involved using next summer's Man of Tomorrow as a means of having the Superman Saga eventually evolve into event-level Justice League movies. That would explain the continued presence of the "Justice Gang" in Superman's solo franchise.
As for Wonder Woman, it's now safe to assume that Adria Arjona will play Diana Prince in the upcoming sequel.
Will new DC Studios co-CEO Jeremy Latcham follow Gunn's blueprint for The Brave and the Bold and Justice League? It doesn't seem likely, as he's bound to have his own ideas for how this world should look. However, Skydance is sure to want a big DCU movie in theaters in 2028, so the pressure will be on to deliver a movie that's a considerably bigger hit than Supergirl and Clayface.
However, if DC Studios does take a year off to recalibrate in 2028, both we and the studio at least have The Batman Part II on the horizon as something of a palate cleanser for the troubled brand.