Just when we all thought Zack Snyder would continue to be the guiding hand of Superman beyond 2021 and his Cut of Justice League on HBO Max, a new rumor indicates that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker director J.J. Abrams hasn’t quite abandoned his dreams of making a movie featuring the Man of Steel.
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On Tuesday, Beyond the Trailer’s Grace Randolph dropped “some holiday tea”, breaking the news that “#JJAbrams meeting w/ writers re #Superman, but no word if keeping #HenryCavill just yet”.
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Later in the day, Twitter account DCVERSO added further fuel to the speculative fire, revealing that two of their sources had confirmed that Abrams is on the lookout actively for writers to work with him on a new Superman film.
“We were able to confirm with two different sources,” says DCVERSO’s tweet when translated. “JJ Abrams is really looking for screenwriters to make a new film from #Superman.”
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It’s reasonable to think Abrams would hold onto Cavill, especially given the rumors that The Witcher star recently signed a three-picture, multiple cameo contract extension with Warner Bros. to continue portraying Superman.
However, it’s also possible Abrams could direct a standalone feature set in its own continuity, as Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker and Robert Pattinson’s Batman prove that the studio sees no harm in multiple versions of the same character existing simultaneously on the big screen
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Rumors that Abrams is interested in directing, and even rebooting, Superman and the Justice League have swirled since last year, when Cosmic Book News first reported that the director “wants to tackle the DC movie characters […] and that he is going to do movies for Superman and Green Lantern first.”
Further fuel was added to the speculative fire when YouTuber John Campea announced that Abrams had personally met with Cavill to discuss his return as Krypton’s Last Son, explaining that “the reason they haven’t announced anything is they want Abrams to still have some flexibility to make those decisions.”
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Grace Randolph seconded that claim in October, while also adding that WB wants him to handle Superman in the hopes that the director has better luck with the IP than he did with Star Wars and Star Trek.
“So I’ve also heard that J.J. Abrams is poised to take over Superman,” she said. “That’s the whole reason Warner Bros. made a deal with him. They were like, ‘And you’ll do Superman, right?'”
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Randolph also noted that Abrams, like everyone else, “is waiting to see how the Snyder Cut does before he decides if he wants to continue with Cavill or recast a Superman of his own.”
In 2019, Abrams told Rolling Stone that he hadn’t “had those discussions yet” regarding Superman, though the entertainment news outlet noted that his response was far from convincing.
After all these years, it’s possible that Abrams may finally get his chance to create something akin to his long-dead Superman: Flyby, though considering how he’s currently busy serving as an executive producer on HBO Max’s upcoming Justice League Dark series, it may be a while before Abrams takes on the world’s most iconic superhero.
What do you make of Abrams’ rumored screenwriter search? Let us know your thoughts on social media or in the comments down below!