Batgirl star Leslie Grace may not have hung up her cape just yet. According to Variety, the 27-year-old actress is still being eyed by Warner Bros. Discovery to continue as Batgirl in some form.
“Newly installed Warner Bros. Pictures Group chiefs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, in seeking to mend fences with Batgirl star Leslie Grace, are entertaining the possibility of having her continue to play Batgirl in a future DC film,” they revealed.
But what does that mean?
Batgirl was recently canned following the high-profile Warner Bros. Discovery merger. The reason? It’s believed that the film was deemed irreparable following a damaging test screening – one that Variety reports led to middling test scores. The 10-week director’s cut was deemed to be in bad shape, and so Warner Bros. Discovery decided to use it as a tax write-down instead of releasing the film either theatrically or online.
Batgirl would have seen Leslie Grace debut as Barbara Gordon – a vigilante under the tutelage of an older Batman played by none other than Michael Keaton. But with the movie officially canceled, it looks as though Warner Bros. Discovery wants to shoehorn its lead character into another DC property.
The most likely suspect? The upcoming Black Canary movie.
Black Canary will reportedly see Jurnee Smollett return to the role she originally debuted in the 2020 DC flick, Birds of Prey. A team-up with Leslie Grace’s Batgirl certainly makes a lot of sense, especially considering that she’s already teamed up with other heroes (and villains) in her debut movie.
Whether or not that pans out remains to be seen.
After all, Leslie Grace herself might want to draw a line under it all after Warner Bros. Discovery pulled the rug out from under the production. But with plenty of other DC projects potentially affected by the Warner Bros. Discovery merger, it looks as though it may be some time before we find out.
Want to read more about Batgirl? Check out our rundown of why Batgirl was canceled, not to mention which other DC properties could be affected.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.