As the Writers’ Guild strike proceeds, if the issue doesn’t resolve quickly, the movie and television projects of the near future will scramble to make sense of their scripts. Although some productions have shut down in solidarity, for most of showbiz, the show must go on. Pre-production on James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy had already started last month, and according to The Wrap, Gunn had been able to submit his first draft of the screenplay to the studio before the strike.
For the most part, the WGA strike would not affect the production of Superman: Legacy, especially since the movie is planned to start principal photography in the first quarter of 2024. However, although Gunn’s first draft had been turned in, it’s commonplace for screenplays to go through multiple drafts and rewrites during production in order to improve dialogue and scenes or rework what may no longer fit when putting the puzzle of the story together. Should the strike continue for an extended period, it is possible it could conflict with any necessary changes Gunn may need to make.
Gunn is currently in the casting stage of his Superman film and is faced with the task of finding the new face of the big blue boy scout. It’s pretty daunting when this up-and-comer will be filling the iconic red boots that have been vacated by fan favorite Henry Cavill and will have to commit to a new universe that Gunn and Peter Safran have outlined for the next ten years at DC Films.
Superman: Legacy is scheduled to be released on July 11, 2025. This reboot “will tell the story of Superman’s journey to reconcile his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing as Clark Kent.” As described by DC Studios, “he is the embodiment of truth, justice and the American way, guided by human kindness in a world that sees kindness as old fashioned.” This film will be the first official entry for Gunn and Safran’s revamped continuity, but the following film in the DC slate would be a sequel to The Batman, which displays Robert Pattinson’s incarnation of the caped crusader and exists in a universe of its own with no ties to the new regime.