Housebound’s Gerard Johnstone is rewriting Justice League Dark

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

A Warner Bros./DC Comics project that would see a group of DC's more horrific characters teaming up to fight a greater evil, JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK has had a lot of ups and downs over the course of its development. At first it was going to be written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, but after finishing a draft of the script del Toro departed the project to focus on other things. Fede Alvarez and directing duo Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado were on the studio's wish list when they were searching for del Toro's replacement. It was Doug Liman who ended up signing on to direct the film, but then he had to drop out over scheduling issues. Andy Muschietti was recently in the running to direct, but since he's busy with IT the search continues.

While JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK still doesn't have a director, it does have a new writer – Gerard Johnstone, who genre fans might know as the writer/director of the 2014 New Zealand horror comedy HOUSEBOUND (pictured above). Johnstone is polishing the script, and there's a rumor that he might end up in the director's seat as well. It would make sense if he does – he has experience with horror, and HOUSEBOUND was great.

Plot details haven't been revealed, but JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK is said to be about 

a dark Justice League team that consists of John Constantine, Swamp Thing, Deadman, Zatanna, and Etrigan the Demon.

At one point, Warner Bros. was calling the film DARK UNIVERSE, but Universal has since beat them to using that name. An animated adaptation of the DARK source material was released on home video earlier this year.