Batgirl: Year One Co-Writer Breaks Silence on Movie’s Cancellation

Batgirl fans were dealt a heartbreaking update on Tuesday, with the news that the long-awaited film adaptation has been shelved by Warner Bros. The Batgirl film, which would have starred Leslie Grace as the titular heroine, had already wrapped production earlier this year, but reports have indicated that the project was not the right fit for DC’s plans for theatrical or HBO Max releases. The news has surprised fans of the DC Comics heroine, as well as one of her prominent comic writers, Scott Beatty. Beatty, who co-wrote the Batgirl: Year One miniseries that the Batgirl movie appeared to be drawing inspiration from, recently took to his blog to share his thoughts on the cancellation.

“Since production began in Glasgow, Scotland last year, I’ve been following all of the scoops and rumors related to the film, mainly because star Leslie Grace quoted my own BATGIRL: YEAR ONE on social media when she unveiled the official Batgirl costume, and set photos hinted that the film was drawing upon BATGIRL: YEAR ONE in thematic inspiration AND some major plot-points,” Beatty’s post reads in part. “From the reveals, it looked as if BATGIRL borrowed liberally from all aspects of Batgirl’s comic book history, including BATGIRL: YEAR ONE and the NEW 52 iteration of Batgirl popularized by fellow writer Gail Simone.”

“According to today’s bombshell news, the film is being buried ENTIRELY, which makes little sense for a $90 million project that was, for intents and purposes, done and done,” Beatty continued. “Shelving a completed work, still in post-production, and apparently not suffering creatively according to close sources, seems like a pretty expensive write-off. Variety’s speculation on the “real” reason the film is being ghosted makes even less sense. But to be fair, I’m not a Hollywood exec, so “taxes” seems as legit as anything else…”

Beatty expressed how he is “disappointed” that the film will not happen — but revealed that it isn’t the first time an adaptation of Year One has fallen through.

“While I’m disappointed that we won’t see at least an homage to BATGIRL: YEAR ONE on the big screen sooner rather than later, I’m reminded that this isn’t the FIRST time that WB circled a Batgirl-related project and pulled the plug. Years ago, WB animation director Lauren Montgomery was working alongside Batman: The Animated Series guru Bruce Timm to make BATGIRL: YEAR ONE as a cartoon feature, but the lackluster performance of a WONDER WOMAN animated film (several years before Gal Godot’s Amazing Amazon debut), kept BATGIRL: YEAR ONE from being greenlit.”

Batgirl was directed by Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi, with a script written by Christina Hodson. The film would’ve starred Leslie Grace as Barbara Gordon / Batgirl, with JK Simmons reprising his role as Commissioner James Gordon, and Michael Keaton reprising his role as Bruce Wayne / Batman. Also joining the cast was Brendan Fraser as Firefly, Ivory Aquino as Alysia Yeoh, and Jacob Scipio, Rebecca Front, Corey Johnson, and Ethan Kai cast in currently-unknown roles.

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