Earlier this summer came the surprise announcement that Emmy-nominated Lovecraft Country showrunner Misha Green has been tapped to write a screenplay for Jurnee Smollett‘s Black Canary, the DC hero who first appeared in the Birds of Prey feature film. Further details haven’t been confirmed but Green herself has a couple of teases for us. As noticed by Murphy’s Multiverse, Green took to social media this week asking for her followers to help her “procrastinate from writing while also thinking about writing,” asking for questions about screenwriting, storytelling & TV making that she would do her best to answer. While the thread features a lot of practical advice about the craft of writing itself, she did offer a couple of winks at Black Canary.
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When asked what her feelings where on “biker jackets and fishnets” (Dinah’s signature look from the pages of DC Comics), Green replied: “LOVE biker jackets and fishnets. 😉.” Another Twitter user asked if the Black Canary project would go into detail about Dinah’s past/backstory, Green replied with just a series of the zipper-mouth emojis. Green went on to tease “Lots of research” for the project as well, prompting none other than fan-favorite comic book scribe Gail Simone to reply, “I know you absolutely don’t need it, but if there’s ever anything I can help with in your research, @mishagreen, let me know!”
Another question for Green was if she felt pressure in writing both the Black Canary project and the new Tomb Raider film at the same time (the later of which she will also direct, her feature debut). Green replied: “No pressure, just excitement. And I know the actresses playing these iconic ladies will make me look good.”
One last reply from Green, though not specifically a question about Black Canary, came in response to a question about making each character in a script stand out, and it offered enough of a glimpse into her writing style that we thought it was worth including. She replied:
“After the first draft, it’s easier to hear each character’s voice. And in the rewriting you go back and pull their voices out more, and delete/change things that don’t quite fit with the character that they were doing mostly to service the story. And then you keep rewriting more.
The Black Canary project joins an exciting collection of DC projects in development for the HBO Max streaming service as both the Batgirl and Blue Beetle feature films are also in the works. Leslie Grace will take on the role of the beloved DC icon Batgirl in the upcoming HBO Max movie which also has J.K. Simmons in talks to return as Barbara’s father Commissioner Gordon, reprising his part from Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Cobra Kai star Xolo Maridueña has been cast as Jaime Reyes for the Blue Beetle movie which will be directed by Charm City Kings‘ Angel Manuel Soto.
