Superman: Legacy Casts Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen

The Righteous Gemstones star will play the fan-favorite Daily Planet photographer.

November 21, 2023, 2:48pm

Superman: Legacy has officially found Superman’s best pal. On Tuesday, a report from The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Skyler Gisondo has been cast as Jimmy Olsen in James Gunn’s upcoming DC reboot. Gisondo is a fan-favorite actor known for his work on The Righteous Gemstones, Booksmart, and Vacation. Additionally, Sara Sampaio has been cast as Eve Teschmacher, an ally of Lex Luthor.

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Initially created for the Adventures of Superman radio serials, Jimmy first made his comics debut in 1941’s Superman #13. A photojournalist for the Daily Planet, Jimmy becomes a close friend and confidant for both Clark Kent and Superman, even learning about his dual identity long before some of Clark’s other friends and family. During the Silver and Bronze Ages of comics, Jimmy even spun off into his own solo stories, both in the long-running Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen and the anthology series Superman Family. Jack Kirby’s work on Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen led to the creation of Darkseid and the New Gods. He recently was the focus of an award-winning 12-issue Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen revival, from Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber.

What Is Superman: Legacy About?

Per DC Studios, Superman: Legacy tells the story of Superman’s journey to reconcile his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing as Clark Kent of Smallville, Kansas. He is the embodiment of truth, justice and the American way, guided by human kindness in a world that sees kindness as old-fashioned. Superman: Legacy will be written and directed by Gunn, and will serve as the first film installment of his and Peter Safran’s DC Universe reboot.

Superman: Legacy will star David Corenswet as Clark Kent / Superman, alongside Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, María Gabriela de Faría as Angela Spica / The Engineer, Isabela Merced as Kendra Saunders / Hawkgirl, Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner, Edi Gathegi as Michael Holt / Mr. Terrific, and Anthony Carrigan as Rex Mason / Metamorpho.

“It’s not an origin story,” DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran told reporters earlier this year. “It focuses on Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing. Superman represents truth, justice, and the American way. He has kindness in a world that thinks of kindness as old fashioned.”

What Is on the DC Universe Slate?

As Gunn and Safran revealed earlier this year, the initial DC Studios slate for “Gods and Monsters” will include movies for Superman: Legacy, The Brave and the Bold, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Swamp Thing, and The Authority. It will include the HBO Max television shows Waller, Booster Gold, Lanterns, Paradise Lost, and an animated Creature Commandos series.

“A lot of people think it’s going to be Marvel 2.0, and definitely I learned a lot of stuff at Marvel. I think that we have a lot of differences,” Gunn explained at the time. “We are telling a big, huge, central story that is like Marvel, except for, I think that we’re a lot more planned out than Marvel from the beginning because we’ve gotten a group of writers together to work that story out completely. But we’re also creating a universe that is like Star Wars, where there’s different times, different places, different things, or Game of Thrones, where characters are a little bit more morally complex.”