With all the changes happening at Warner Bros. Discovery’s new imprint DC Studios, it was only a matter of time before it was announced that J.J. Abrams’ long-gestating Justice League Dark had been axed. Now that has been confirmed. However, one central character from the JLD comics, Swamp Thing, was announced as getting his own theatrical movie under the leadership of Peter Safran and James Gunn.
Another Abrams project that had been in the works, Overlook, an HBO Max spinoff of The Shining, has also been nixed but will be shopped around. This follows the cancelation of Demimonde after Discovery balked at the $200 million budget. One Abrams project that is moving forward at HBO Max is the 1970s-set drama Dusted with Rachel Hilson and Josh Holloway. HBO also recently wrapped up Abrams’ Westworld, which was once seen as the network’s flagship series, but the long delays between seasons led to a steady loss of viewership of this other expensive program.
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Justice League Dark was developed for years by Guillermo del Toro. After all that work, the auteur abandoned the project when Warner Bros. wanted to fast-track it for the unfolding DCEU. This led to Abrams taking it on. Reportedly, Abrams and his production company Bad Robot also had plans to use JLD characters Zatanna and John Constantine in their own projects with Zatanna eyed for a film (although whether it would have been theatrical or on HBO Max is unclear) and Constantine heading for his own series on HBO Max.
In July of 2021, it was reported that Abrams was also crafting an HBO Max series based on Madame Xanadu, which would be called Madame X. While there was no mention of it, it’s pretty safe to assume that this is also dead.
Both of these have also been scrapped. There has been talk that Keanu Reeves would return in an unrelated sequel to his 2005 film Constantine. The movie was a box office disappointment but has developed a cult following, especially as Reeves has become one of the most beloved actors in Hollywood, partially thanks to the John Wick franchise.
However, the Reeves Constantine project has always sounded like a long shot. With Swamp Thing getting his own movie, it’s entirely plausible that a different version of Constantine will pop up in that.
Justice League Dark is… well, a dark version of the Justice League. But considering that Gunn and Safran’s new DC Universe doesn’t yet have any Justice League and is just getting new versions of Superman and Batman, with no announcement of a new version of Wonder Woman, it’s probably going to be a loooooong time before a version of JLD appears in any medium. Some characters could pop up in Swamp Thing and even get their own movies or TV shows outside of a team-up.
Are you disappointed that Justice League Dark or its potential spinoffs have been abandoned?
