JJ Abrams’ ‘Justice League Dark’ HBO Max Series Gets The Axe

Remember that Justice League Dark series that JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot was developing for HBO Max? Part of the huge deal inked with Warner Media in 2019, it was set in motion the following year as studios snatched up all the streaming content they could find during the pandemic. So what’s happened since then? Warner Bros. Discovery took over, a bunch of film and streaming projects have been scaled back or outright canceled, and that goes double for anything tied to the DC Universe.

You know where this is going. Justice League Dark will not be moving forward. The relationship between Bad Robot and WBD CEO David Zaslav hasn’t been good for a while, with the exec reportedly unhappy with the company’s sluggish development. A number of Bad Robot projects had previously been canned, including DC projects such as Zatanna, Madame X, and Constantine.

It’s a shame, because Justice League Dark is such a cool team. Exploring the paranormal side of the DC Universe, the team consisted of a rotating group that included John Constantine, Swamp Thing, Zatanna, Blue Demon, Deadman, and more. Guillermo Del Toro tried for years to get a movie off the ground, to no avail.

At least there are animated Justice League Dark films that exist. It might be all we get unless James Gunn has plans for the team. [THR]

Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.