DC’s Zatanna Movie Taps Promising Young Woman’s Emerald Fennell as Writer

Warner Bros.’ Zatanna movie has gotten tapped Promising Young Woman writer and director Emerald Fennell to write the script for the DC Films project, which is being produced alongside with J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions. Fennell is currently one of the big names circulating Hollywood after 2020; her femme revenge flick Promising Young Woman has sparked a lot of passionate acclaim – and plenty of controversy, as well. At the time of writing this, Fennell is in the running for multiple Oscars for Promising Young Woman, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. DC Films could be landing her talents at the perfect (still affordable) time.

Still no word in Variety‘s report on who the studio is looking to actually cast as Zatanna.

The recent Warner Bros. Analysts Day revealed logos for upcoming DC movies, including Zatanna. That’s about all the real “confirmation” we have (besides today’s report) that the project is actually moving forward – instead of being one of those DC Films “announcements” that never really materializes in theaters.

It’s fair for fans to be skeptical: this Zatanna movie has been ‘in the works’ since 2018 when the trades first announced it was happening. At that same time, the list of DC Characters that were also getting movies included Blue Beetle, Batgirl, Supergirl, Deathstroke, Nightwing, Cyborg, Green Lantern Corps, Booster Gold, the Gotham City Sirens, Justice League Dark and that Joker/Harley Quinn movie for Jared Leto and Margot Robbie. Since then, a lot has definitely changed. Right now, Blue Beetle and Batgirl are definitely getting their movies still; Supergirl (Sarah Calle) will be rebooted in The Flash movie; Harley Quinn got a Birds of Prey spinoff and The Suicide Squad reboot; and Zack Snyder’s Justice League release has re-opened the door for more from Leto’s Joker and Joe Manganiello’s Deathstroke.

It’s good to know that Zatanna hasn’t been lost in the massive studio shuffle over at DC/WB…

Zatanna (if you don’t know) is one of DC’s most powerful sorcerers. She’s from a magical family, with her dad being Giovanni “John” Zatara. Zatanna’s spellcasting works by having her utter magical phrases backwards. While she is one of the bigger defenders against dark magic/demonic power in the DC Universe, Zatanna hides in plain sight, by carrying on her family business as a famous stage magician.

Justice League Dark is one big team that has featured Zatanna in recent years – and also happens to be another project that DC/WB is developing with J.J. Abrams for HBO Max. There were previous rumors that Abrams would help shape Zatanna and Constantine solo projects, as an Avengers-style build-up to the Justice League Dark team event. As of now, that still seems to be the case, but this Zatanna project seems to be headed to theaters, and not just streaming.

No word on when DC’s Zatanna movie will hit theaters.