Justice League’s Jesse Eisenberg says he’s “probably the last person to know” if he will ever have an opportunity to return as Lex Luthor in a future DCEU project. Eisenberg's breakout role in 2009’s post-apocalyptic comedy Zombieland made him a household name. One year later he also appeared as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, a role which earned him Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for Best Actor.
Eisenberg was later cast by Zack Snyder as Lex Luthor, Superman’s arch-nemesis, in 2016’s Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, a role he would reprise again for 2017’s Justice League. Eisenberg’s debut performance as the DC supervillain drew a great ire from critics and fans alike, eventually earning him a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor. With this year’s release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, however, it was revealed to audiences that Snyder had a much bigger role planned for Eisenberg’s Luthor in the film’s now-scrapped sequels. With the first Justice League originally planned as the third film in a five-film arc, Snyder had originally intended for Luthor to form the Injustice League in Justice League 2 with several other DC villains.
More recently, Eisenberg has spoken with ComicBookMovie.com about his time as the infamous DC bad guy, and whether audiences may still expect his return to the role at some point in the future. When asked if he had now officially left Luthor behind, he admitted he would “love to play any character again”, but had no idea whether his return was in any way likely. Check out what he had to say below:
"I’m probably the last person to know the answer to that question because I don’t know how they make those decisions. You know, my background is in theatre where you do a play 200 times and you feel like you’re just getting the hang of it by the last performance. I would love to play any character again. After a movie ends, the actors usually turn to each other and say, ‘Oh, now I finally know what I’m doing and I understand what my purpose [was].' Actors, in my experience, do like playing roles again but that particular one is just not up to me."
With this year’s release of the long-anticipated Snyder Cut finally out of the way, fans have plenty of questions about the future of the DCEU and the franchise continuity that Snyder had helped to shape in its earliest days. While Snyder himself seems largely content to move on to other projects, such as his burgeoning Army of the Dead franchise, DC fans have been left puzzled by Warner Bros.'s decisions to pursue other out-of-universe projects such as Matt Reeves’ The Batman and J.J. Abram’s upcoming Superman film.
On the other hand, whispers of J.K Simmon’s potential return as Commissioner Gordon for the Batgirl movie, coupled with Ben Affleck’s return as Batman in The Flash, may also suggest that the studio has decided to not completely do away with Snyder’s characters. If Eisenberg does indeed find his way back into the DCEU as Lex Luthor, many fans will no doubt be keeping their fingers crossed it will be part of a potential Man of Steel 2 with Henry Cavill back in the suit. Should the opportunity ever present itself, Eisenberg seems more than happy to return as his Justice League villain.
Source: ComicBookMovie.com
