‘The Batman’ Script Still Not Finished, Will Begin Filming After ‘Flash’ and ‘Birds of Prey’

Fans are eagerly awaiting word on Warner Bros.‘ and DC Films‘ plans for The Batman, featuring writer and director Matt Reeves‘ potential collaboration with Ben Affleck.

While Reeves previously stated that he’s almost finished with his script, a new rumor indicates that WB will not be going into production on the Caped Crusader’s new film anytime soon. Here’s what TheWrap’s Umberto Gonzalez had to say about the project:

“BATMAN UPDATE: Kind of hard to go into preproduction when there is still no script yet. Just checked. No script until after Labor Day. MAYBE goes into preproduction by end of the year for a June 19′ or later shoot. BIRDS OF PREY & THE FLASH will go first,” Gonzalez wrote on Twitter.

This comes after a recent listing from Production Weekly riled up fans when it said The Batman was likely to begin filming in early 2019.

This might be disappointing for some fans, as it would likely mean that Batman wouldn’t return to movie theaters until late 2020 at the earliest. It’s also kind of surprising that a script won’t be done until early September, as Reeves seemed sure he’d be finish with a draft when he spoke at the Television Critics Association event two weeks ago.

“We are working on getting our draft [in] the next couple weeks,” Reeves explained. “Right now, my head is totally into the script. Right now, I’m going to be leaving here to go back to work on the script.”

The director also explained some of his ideas about the movie’s theme after saying he wanted to shoot in spring or early summer of 2019.

“I’ve talked about making it a very point of view noir-driven definitive Batman story in which he is investigating a particular case and that takes us out into the world of Gotham,” Reeves said. “I went on a deep dive again revisiting all my favorite comics. Those all inform by osmosis. There’s no continuation of the [Christopher] Nolan films. It’s very much trying to find a way to do this as something that for me is going to be definitively Batman and new and cool.”

So everyone who got excited over photos of Ben Affleck looking like he was getting in shape to return to the Batcave, it might be best to temper your expectations moving forward — especially since we don’t know for sure that he’s actually going to return.