Warner Bros. Wants a Female Director for DC’s Batgirl Movie

Warner Bros. Pictures is looking for a female director to replace Joss Whedon for their upcoming Batgirl movie. This news isn’t exactly surprising, seeing as Whedon was once reportedly fired from the project, though that rumor turned out to be false… at the time. Plus, the studio’s DC Films division has been undergoing a significant overhaul in recent months. IT producer Walter Hamada is now overseeing all DC Comics-based projects at Warner Bros., with Chantal Nong acting as vice president of film production.


Following his stint at Marvel Studios, Whedon hopped over to the unofficially titled DC Extended Universe to oversee the infamous Justice League reshoots, in which he streamlined the story and added in several comedic scenes, which in turn earned him a screenwriting credit on the film.


Interestingly, that development came only after Whedon boarded the DCEU as writer-director on Batgirl. However, Whedon recently departed Batgirl due to script issues, ultimately saying that he “failed” to write a great story. So, WB is now looking to replace him, but with whom?


Tracking Board reports that Warner Bros. is seeking a female director to helm DC’s Batgirl film, something that proved enormously successful with them for 2017’s Wonder Woman, which was directed by Patty Jenkins and starred Gal Gadot as the eponymous superhero.


This news comes on the heels of Warner Bros. reportedly gearing up to enter production on both Batgirl and Flashpoint. In fact, new reports suggest that Flashpoint will start filming sometime this summer following Wonder Woman 2‘s production start. Considering that Whedon is no longer helming the film, and that Warner Bros. wants a female director helming the project, perhaps they already have a few candidates in mind for the job. After all, it was only recently that Flashpoint found its directors in Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley.


Since Warners has the proclivity of working with directors and producers that they already have a professional relationship with, they will most likely be looking at a director they know can deliver. For instance, Aquaman director James Wan built The Conjuring franchise for WB from the ground up, while Shazam!‘s David F. Sandberg helmed Annabelle: Creation for New Line Cinema (WB’s sister studio) last year. Plus, Goldestein and Daley wrote and directed this weekend’s comedy film, Game Night, which is earning rave reviews for its deft humor. Still, even with that in mind, we’ll just have to wait and see who Warner Bros. chooses to helm Batgirl. But if they do want to start rolling cameras this summer, they will need to make a decision soon.