This news should come as a surprise to nobody, since we’ve all seen the drastic reductions in streaming output from Disney and Marvel Studios, with precious little news on many of the DC Studios projects announced in 2023. Ankler reports that Waller and Paradise Lost, two shows intended as part of James Gunn’s DCU, won’t be moving forward.
Waller was the series centered around Viola Davis’ angry government chief Amanda Waller, one of the few characters to survive the transition away from the SnyderVerse. She has already appeared in Suicide Squad, The Suicide Squad, and Gunn’s Peacemaker series, where Danielle Brooks plays Waller’s daughter, Leota.
Paradise Lost was the drama series centered on the Amazonian island of Themyscira, home of Wonder Woman.
A separate report by EW doesn’t close the door on both shows just yet, and says they remain in development with the potential to move forward. It’s just that other projects have taken priority.
Another show reportedly pitched and rejected was a Catwoman/Poison Ivy teamup featuring the fan-favorite antiheroes. It’s unclear whether this would have been for the DCU or the separate universe overseen by The Batman director Matt Reeves.
It’s not that DC Studios has given up on peak TV completely, of course. There’s still the upcoming Booster Gold show, which is in need of a new leader after writer David Jenkins’ version was scrapped. This weekend sees the anticipated HBO premiere of Lanterns, the grounded Green Lantern series starring Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre.
Finally, one more show on the horizon is Mister Miracle, an animated series from comic book writer and showrunner Tom King, who you may recall was working with Ava DuVernay on her shelved New Gods movie. Mister Miracle is actually one of the New Gods, and his show will feature the return of Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern Guy Gardner. At this point, Gardner is the busiest character in all of the DCU. The unlikable hero (although he remains my favorite GL) first appeared in Superman, then showed up in Peacemaker season two. He’ll turn up next in Gunn’s sequel, Man of Tomorrow.
“We brought Nathan into ‘Mister Miracle’s’ show, and doing that, it’s just so wonderful,” King said to EW. “He brings that energy to every aspect of it. And you would think it would be different tonally from ‘Lanterns,’ but it blends because that’s who Guy is. He’s that guy who is over the top. We all know that guy who’s a little bit like that.”
