James Gunn is taking action: two more DCU series are being canceled

Waller with Viola Davis and Paradise Lost have been canceled: three out of five DCU series from the 2023 plan are dead. The cancellations come shortly before the start of Lanterns – and after the weak theatrical release of Supergirl. Is the DCU in crisis?

A few days before the start of the HBO series Lanterns, the series schedule of the new DC universe is becoming significantly shorter. The industry medium The Anchor now reports that two productions have been canceled: Waller, a spin-off to The Suicide Squad, and Paradise Lost, a drama on the island of Themyscira. According to the report, both are considered to have finally died, even if there are now indications that it is “just” a siding. There was initially no official confirmation from DC Studios.

Waller would have featured Viola Davis again as Amanda Waller, the government official with a penchant for suicide missions. The character is one of the few common threads through both DC film worlds – through the DCEU (DC Extended Universe, the series before it was taken over by James Gunn and Peter Safran) and today’s DCU (DC Universe). Paradise Lost was announced in 2023 as a series about the creation and political intrigues of an all-female island, i.e. as a prequel to the home of Wonder Woman.

Three out of five deleted

Gunn and Safran presented their plan in January 2023 and it originally called for five series. Three of them are no longer in the race. Back in July, author David Jenkins announced that Booster Gold would not be pursued further. According to media reports, DC Studios is now looking for a new creative team, so the project does not have to be written off yet. The current status:

Comparison with Marvel

Economically, the DCU does not yet have a clear path. With mostly positive reviews, Superman grossed just over $600 million (around €553 million) – solid for a reboot, but significantly less than Spider-Man: Brand New Day achieved in just a few weeks. Supergirl remained at 126 million dollars (around 116 million euros) in June and also disappointed critics and audiences. Both characters will meet again in Man of Tomorrow in 2027, this time with Brainiac as an antagonist. Whether the cleanup at DC signals sovereignty or helplessness cannot yet be answered. This is supported by the fact that projects are stopped before they use up money and the public’s patience. This is contradicted by the fact that Waller, a series with an Oscar winner in the lead role, and Paradise Lost, a material that would have expanded one of the most famous DC characters, are no longer available.

For industry experts, three cancellations out of five announcements are not a polish, but a change of course. In the short term, a lot depends on Lanterns. This is followed by Clayface in the cinema, a horror story about the shape-shifting Batman opponent. A Batman film is still in the works – not to be confused with the separate series by Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson, the second part of which is scheduled for 2028 – as well as a series about Jimmy Olsen and Gorilla Grodd.