What Does Batgirl's Shelving Mean For DC Series on HBO Max?

On Tuesday, fans of DC's live-action multiverse was hit with a major surprise when it was announced that Warner Bros. is shelving the Leslie Grace starring Batgirl movie. The film, which had already wrapped production, was expected to be released exclusively on HBO Max but now will not be released at all, reportedly as part of changes to DC's larger film slate as the studio looks to shift focus to larger-scale blockbuster films intended for theaters rather than streaming. It's a decision that has stirred up a lot of questions about what this could mean for other film projects, including the planned Black Canary film but given the shift, it also calls into to question the future of all of DC's HBO Max projects — including Green Lantern.

The Green Lantern series was first announced back in the fall of 2019 as part of the HBO Max WarnerMedia Day where it was revealed that the series was in the works from Berlanti Productions, the same company behind The CW's Arrowverse shows along with Titans and Doom Patrol which both air on HBO Max. However, since that announcement progress seems to have been slow with few updates on what writer and showrunner Seth Grahame-Smith previously described as a "big undertaking" that would take "a while" to become reality.

The scope of Green Lantern has been reported to be huge with the series to be set across multiple points in time and to star Wittrock (American Horror Story, Deep Water) as Guy Gardner, and Irvine (War Horse, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again) as Alan Scott, with Tobias Menzies (Game of Thrones, The Crown) previously rumored to be portraying Sinestro. The series is also expected to feature Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz, Killowog, and a newly-created character named Bree Jarta.

But there have been big changes for HBO Max since Green Lantern's announcement and the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery. Not only does Warner Bros. Discovery want DC films to debut in theaters, but movies intended for HBO Max now need to have smaller budgets. On top of that, Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav has been making other moves to streamline things, reduce costs, and make big changes to HBO Max's programming. With there clearly being a shift in approach to DC's slate and Green Lantern already being a large, presumably pricey project that is now three years in development with little forward motion, it's not a big leap to think that Green Lantern isn't likely to go forward. As for one other high-profile DC series in the works, The Batman spinoff series The Penguin which was given a straight-to-series order earlier this year? There haven't been too many updates on that yet. That is one series that would remain anyone's guess, though star Colin Farrell was very optimistic about it in a recent interview.

As for HBO Max's current live-action DC series? They probably aren't safe either. Many have speculated for a while now that Titans was nearing the end of its run and the same for Doom Patrol. Both of those series have fourth seasons that are expected to arrive on HBO Max sometime later this year so it seems likely that fans will at least get those — Titans in particular is currently in active production — but that may well be the last. Peacemaker, on the other hand, seems to be safe for the moment. Series creator James Gunn reassured fans on social media on Tuesday that Season 2 of the series is safe.

What do you think? Let us know your take on the recent DC news in the comment section.