Ava DuVernay fans were disappointed earlier this month when the celebrated director said she wouldn’t helm a Star Wars film. But that doesn’t mean DuVernay is swearing off franchise filmmaking altogether.
According to Variety, DuVernay will direct the DC Comics movie New Gods for Warner Bros. She previously directed Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time, a star-studded fantasy film currently in theaters, as well as the award-winning films 13th and Selma.
DuVernay was in talks at one point to direct Black Panther for Marvel, but the deal never came to fruition. By making New Gods with Warner Bros., DuVernay will become the DC franchise’s second female director. Patty Jenkins helmed the massively successful Wonder Woman last year.
DuVernay is already familiar with New Gods—in fact, she told fans on Twitter in December that Big Barda, a New Gods character, is her favorite superhero.
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It’s unclear if New Gods will take place as part of the DC Extended Universe, Warner Bros.’s attempt to replicate Marvel’s successful shared-universe, or if it’ll act as a standalone film like the company’s Martin Scorsese-produced Joker movie.
While fans are right to be excited about the project, they should take it with a grain of salt. Warner Bros. has more than a dozen rumored and announced DC Comics films in various stages of production. With so many movies vaguely “in the works,” there’s no telling which ones will eventually make it to theaters and which will never see the light of day.
But with DuVernay at the wheel, New Gods is in good hands.
H/T Variety
