Is there still hope for James Gunn and his DCU?
The week of the Supergirl release, THR,runs a story that Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has already met with DC Studios co-chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran.
We're tracking every Man of Tomorrow development as it breaks. The complete rundown: Man of Tomorrow — release date, cast, and story.
On the surface, the early signals sound positive for the current regime. But look closer, and the picture is more complicated than the headline quotes suggest.
What Was Said
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter at the Brooklyn premiere of Supergirl, executive producer Lars P. Winther confirmed that Ellison has already traveled to Atlanta, where Man of Tomorrow is currently filming.
“He came to Trilith [Studios] already. That’s where we shoot all our movies that James directs,” Winther said. “He came to Atlanta, we showed him everything, and we’re having discussions with him.”
According to Winther, Ellison is enthusiastic about the duo’s work.
“He’s pretty open to what we’re doing,” he said. “He’s a big fan, he’s been great with us. He’s giving us kind of what we want. So far, everything’s good.”
Winther added that the existing slate is rolling forward: “We do have a slate and a lot of it — obviously, Clayface is already coming out. We already have the Lanterns TV show. On those things, the train’s left the station. So we’re good.”
The Detail Everyone Will Miss
Here’s the part worth paying attention to.
Every single project Winther names as locked in — Clayface, the Lanterns series, The Batman: Part II, Supergirl, and Man of Tomorrow — was greenlit and put into motion under the previous Warner Bros. Discovery regime.
These were part of the original DCU slate Gunn and Safran announced back in 2023, long before Paramount Skydance entered the picture. And we also know some of those projects aren’t moving forward.
So when Ellison shows up and says to keep going, he isn’t greenlighting a new vision. He’s declining to cancel work that’s already shooting, which is exactly what any new owner would do with projects that are mid-production and represent sunk costs.
Torching films that are already in front of cameras would be a financial non-starter. Letting them finish is the obvious, expected move.
What’s telling is what isn’t there: nothing new has been announced beyond Man of Tomorrow. Winther even hints at it himself, saying they “already know what the next movie’s going to be after that,” but it remains unannounced.
Every concrete project he can point to predates Paramount. The forward slate past 2027 is still a blank page.
James Gunn vs Zack Snyder
That empty post-Man of Tomorrow slate remains the real question.
If the current DC regime were locked in for the long haul, you’d expect to see new tentpoles being announced and lined up. Instead, everything concrete on the board is inherited from the old guard.
As we laid out in our breakdown of DC’s uncertain future, the signs of a regime in transition are still piling up, and a hands-on new owner backing the in-flight slate doesn’t change the fact that what comes after it remains undefined.
Our insiders have continued to report that a SnyderVerse return is in active discussion as part of those bigger-picture conversations. Reports also continue to say Gunn will be out and even may return to Marvel.
Supergirl flies into theaters June 26, with Man of Tomorrow set for 2027.
