Zack Snyder’s DC Exit Leaves Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s ‘Flashpoint’ Batman Role Up in the Air

The Walking Dead star Jeffrey Dean Morgan says Zack Snyder‘s departure from DC Films has lessened his chances to star as the Thomas Wayne Batman in a potential Flashpoint adaptation.

“I’ll keep talking about it just because it’s really fun to talk about, and I really would like Warner Bros. to open their ears a little bit,” Morgan told MTV at San Diego Comic-Con.

Asked if there’s any reality to one day suiting up as a darker Dark Knight, Morgan said it seemed closer to happening before Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League director Zack Snyder stepped away from the DC Extended Universe.

“When Zack Snyder was involved in the DC world more, I think there was a real possibility, but now that he’s kinda stepped away a little bit — I’ve heard different things, that Flashpoint might not be going in that direction, it’ll be more of an origin story for Flash,” Morgan said. “But look, I’m always here, and would love to do it.”

After signing Game Night directors John Francis Daly and Jonathan Goldstein to handle creative duties on The Flash, Warner Bros. is reportedly moving the Ezra Miller-led superhero movie towards lighter fare and using seminal mid-’80s classic Back to the Future as a touchstone.

The project was previously developed as a Flashpoint adaptation, a storyline from the DC comic books that saw Barry Allen, the Flash, travel to an alternate timeline where Superman was a U.S. government lab rat, Cyborg was revered as the world’s ultimate hero, and a warring Aquaman and Wonder Woman decimated western Europe.

In that alternate reality, it was a young Bruce Wayne who was mercilessly gunned down by a mugger — not his rich parents — turning the Wayne patriarch into a more vengeful and brutal Batman and Martha Wayne into the insane Joker.

Morgan told told GamesRadar in March he and Snyder “talked about doing Batman together” when they first teamed for R-rated DC adaptation Watchmen, dubbing the Thomas Wayne anti-hero “not only the darkest of the Batmen, but the coolest.”

“I mean, look, DC is DC and they’ll figure out what they’re going to do next. But I’m highly aware of the character, I will say that,” Morgan said at the time. “I’m highly aware of the character, and it would probably be a thrill of a lifetime to put on the Batsuit.”

Despite mostly stepping away from the DCEU, Snyder retains producer credits on the James Wan-directed Aquaman and the Wonder Woman sequel, again directed by Patty Jenkins and starring Gal Gadot.

Morgan next returns as Negan in Season Nine of The Walking Dead this October. The Flash has yet to stake a release date.