The Flash: Grant Morrison Details Scrapped Script They Wrote With Ezra Miller, Reacts to Recent News

The Flash movie is currently slated to debut in theaters in the summer of next year, after years and years of the project being in development. The film has undergone a number of creative evolutions, before eventually landing on being directed by IT's Andy Muschietti and written by Birds of Prey's Christina Hodson. One of the prior incarnations of The Flash was reported to be written by the film's own star, Ezra Miller, who was co-writing the script with comics icon Grant Morrison. While Morrison and Miller's script ultimately did not come to pass, a recent interview with Rolling Stone sheds light on what it could have entailed. As Morrison revealed, their script with Miller was only written in two weeks, and was more of a straightforward Flash story as opposed to the franchise-shattering multiversal tale that the finished film seems to be.

"Well, there had been a few versions, and as far as I remember, Ezra just wasn't quite happy with what they were getting at the time," Morrison revealed. "And Ezra had a lot of ideas; they came to me with a book of ideas. And then we worked together. It really was just the two of us. They came over here to Scotland and hung out, and we wrote this thing. I really liked it. Warner Bros. only gave us two weeks! It was cruelty, you know. It was hardcore. We had to be like the Flash to get this thing done, and they were looking for something quite different. I got paid, and it was good fun. It didn't do the job they were looking for, which was to franchise things and set things up, and bring other characters in. It was a Flash story, so it wasn't where they wanted to go with multiverse and stuff. And that was the end of it."

Morrison also addressed the recent updates and news headlines about Miller's personal life, as the actor has dealt with multiple arrests in Hawaii. This has led some to speculate about Miller's long-term future as The Flash in potential sequels and spinoffs.

"I know they've had these problems," Morrison explained. "I haven't spoken to them for a while, and the last time I spoke was long, long before this. All I can say is that it's just not the person I know. I've heard stories just like everyone else. I just don't know. Ezra cut off contact from pretty much everyone for a while. It's not the person they were. They weren't aggressive in any way. I just thought Ezra was a super-intelligent kid with so many talents. So all I can say is that I didn't see that side in any way with them."

The Flash will also star Ben Affleck and Keaton's iterations of Bruce Wayne / Batman, as well as Sasha Calle as Supergirl, Kiersey Clemons as Iris West, Ron Livingston as Henry Allen, Maribel Verdu as Nora Allen, Ian Loh as a young Barry Allen, and Saoirse-Monica Jackson and Rudy Mancuso playing currently-unknown roles.

The Flash is scheduled to be released in theaters on June 23, 2023.