If you are in the mood for some more slashing from Deathstroke on HBO Max, you just might be in luck but it won’t be the Slade Wilson we’ve come to know in the Snyderverse.
An exclusive from That Hashtag Show claims that Warner Bros. is fast-tracking a new series around the super-soldier assassin that will serve as a restart for him.
“They’re in early development on a series that will touch on Deathstroke’s origin in relation to the League of Shadows; but the series will also feature a ‘contract of the week’ type format where Deathstroke will take on contracts to take on and fight various heroes, anti-heroes, and even other villains within the DC universe,” goes the article.
Related: Joe Manganiello Answers Whether or Not Deathstroke Has More Scenes in The Snyder Cut
It adds WB is pouring more of an investment into HBO Max as a top streaming provider and that “Unfortunately, Joe Manganiello is not reprising his role as Deathstroke,” since “Warner Bros. is wanting to start fresh with the character.”
But That Hashtag Show sources also say WB wants to tie into an unsurprising franchise much as Zack Snyder intended.
“Although my sources who are associated with the project have confirmed that tonally it’s being set up to match The Batman trilogy,” it reads. “Not to say it needs to or will have that connection, but DC wants there to be that option that the character and actor could show up in a future sequel to The Batman.”
This’ll disappoint Snyderverse supporters when Joe Manganiello’s Deathstroke never really got a chance outside of Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Initially set up as the villain in Ben Affleck’s The Batman, that went nowhere; as did a solo movie directed by Gareth Evans (The Raid) and a spot in The Suicide Squad.
However, in addition to the two versions of Justice League with Manganiello, numerous portrayals of Deathstroke can be found right now on HBO Max in animation and live-action from Esai Morales’s stint as Slade on season two of Titans to Michael Chiklis’s vocal performance in Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons.
The new series is allegedly still gathering a full roster for its writer’s room and an announcement might be coming at the next DC FanDome.