J.J. Abrams’ Justice League Dark Series Reportedly Scrapped

The long-gestating Justice League Dark series from filmmaker J.J. Abrams is reportedly scrapped. There was once a time when J.J. Abrams was going to oversee a Justice League Dark franchise at HBO Max, with several series and movies in various stages of development that would tie back to each other. Justice League Dark would have been the culmination of these projects, bringing DC’s supernatural heroes together to form their own dark version of the Justice League. However, with much of DC’s content now under the leadership of DC Studios co-CEOs Peter Safran and James Gunn, that’s left the status of Justice League Dark up in the air. A new report looks to put the series to rest.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Justice League Dark has been scrapped, along with another J.J. Abrams project, Overlook, a spinoff of The Shining. Abrams’ Bad Robot production company signed an overall deal with the former WarnerMedia (now Warner Bros. Discovery) in 2019, though no projects under the deal have surfaced just yet. However, Abrams and HBO Max did announce that the 1970s drama Duster starring Josh Holloway and Rachel Hilson has been picked up. Overlook is reportedly being shopped to other interested parties, and the Demimonde sci-fi series was scrapped over its over $200 million budget.

J.J. Abrams’ Justice League Dark Plans

One of J.J. Abrams’ series connected to Justice League Dark was going to be Madame X, which would have followed the exploits of DC Universe mystic Madame Xanadu. Played by Jeryl Prescott in Swamp Thing, this project would have marked Madame Xanadu’s first broad exposure in live action. Madame Xanadu is one of the DC Universe’s most powerful mystics, but is generally used as a supporting character, serving roles ancillary to bigger names. She often helps guide The Spectre, and had worked with The Phantom Stranger, the Suicide Squad, and Justice League Dark, among others. In some continuities, she is the mother of DC villain Doctor Destiny, whom fans will remember from The CW’s “Elseworlds” event and whose powers were approximated by Maxwell Lord in Wonder Woman 1984.

There were also projects for John Constantine and Zatanna in the works from Abrams, but those have also since been scrapped, with Abrams being brought in as an executive producer on the Keanu Reeves-starring Constantine 2, according to Akiva Goldsman.