Why DC's New Gods Movie Is Taking So Long: Is It Cancelled?

DC announced Ava DuVernay would direct New Gods in 2018, but why is development of the film taking so long? Based on the characters created by Jack Kirby, the announcement of New Gods gave the DC Extended Universe another potential franchise. This one will involve heroes like Mister Miracle and Big Barda in addition to DC's all-powerful villain, Darkseid.

In the few years since New Gods was announced, updates on the project haven't been too frequent, with the addition of Tom King as a writer being one of the more significant recent developments - and that happened in 2019. The lack of information about New Gods has come at a time when the rest of the DCEU is making huge strides. James Gunn joined DC to direct The Suicide Squad, Robert Pattinson is set to be the new Batman, and even the Snyder Cut was announced. DC has also released Shazam!, Aquaman, Joker, and Birds of Prey during this time and announced a full slate through 2022. Yet while all this happened, there's been hardly any news on New Gods.

With so much else happening in the DCEU and the lack of New Gods updates, it is understandable why many are questioning what the status of the film is. For those worried that DC has quietly canceled New Gods, that is not the case. DuVernay has been working on the script for more than two years, and King has continued adding his touches for over a year. The writing phase of development is precisely where New Gods remains, as King has confirmed on Twitter that he's still actively working on the script.

This long development process New Gods is going through isn't out of the ordinary for Hollywood movies, especially when it comes to the DCEU. For instance, Shazam! was announced in 2014, and fans thought there was no way the movie was going to happen because no movement was made on the film. But that changed rather quickly in 2016 and Shazam! managed to hit its originally planned 2018 release date. DCEU fans have also watched The Flash lose multiple directors and miss several release dates over the years, resulting in doubt that the film would ever happen, but now it's bringing Michael Keaton back as Batman.

Given DC's history, it is plausible that New Gods could follow a similar path as Shazam! and all of a sudden gain a lot of momentum. The DCEU has over two dozen known movies in some stage of development, and many of them have been in the works for years. As easy as it is to write a handful of those titles off as movies that will never happen, New Gods was one of the first projects announced after Walter Hamada took over DC Films. Although the future of the DCEU could change now that AT&T is in charge of WarnerMedia (and DC Films as a result), there's currently no sign that New Gods is a project that has been canned.

Since work is still being done on New Gods, the question we're left with is when DC could provide everyone with new information on the movie. DC's FanDome event could potentially give the fans some updates. One piece of information that could come is the announcement of a release date for New Gods. With a full slate already announced through 2022, New Gods could be among the DC films eyed for a 2023 release. This would go a long way in confirming the movie is still happening and give fans an understanding of when more updates could arrive.

MORE: Every DC Movie Releasing After Birds of Prey