Posted in: TV | Tagged: dcu, james gunn

James Gunn References Secret "Favorite Thing" DCU TV Project Again

DC Studios' James Gunn dropped another reference to that secret "favorite thing" TV project he teased earlier this summer. Here's a theory...

Okay, it's history lesson time. Back in June of this year, DC Studios co-CEO and writer/director James Gunn spoke with EW in support of David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, and Nicholas Hoult-starring Superman. At one point, Gunn offered some updates and insights into what's still ahead for the DCU, and that's when he dropped a tease about one project in particular that hit our radar… one that hadn't been announced. "Then there's another TV show that's my favorite thing in all of this, that is hopefully getting made soon. It's just my favorite thing," Gunn shared. Apparently, it's something that Gunn pitched to Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav when describing what the new DCU would look like. "We did not announce in that first meeting because I felt like it was too easy to rip off by another company," Gunn explained.

Since then, there's been some serious speculation about what it could be – including by us, but we'll get to that in a minute. During a post-Superman spoiler interview with Rolling Stone, Gunn offered another tease about a potential big development on the television side of the DCU. When asked about the rumors of a Wonder Woman film being fast-tracked, Gunn revealed, "We got the first few things started, and there's some other things that are really close to green-lighting — like there's a television show that I hope that we're gonna be green-lighting in the next few days." Okay, everybody up to speed? Cool… because it sounds like that TV project got a green light, based on what Gunn had to share with Chris Hardwick on Hardwick's I Think You're Overthinking It podcast.

In the episode below (start listening around the 52:55 mark), Hardwick asks Gunn for a status update on how things are looking with "Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters." During their conversation, Gunn shared that in terms of what DC Studios will be moving on next, he's hoping to have The Batman II filming, and then his "follow-up" to Superman… and that would be followed by the mysterious television project that we've become obsessed over. At first, we were surprised he didn't say Clayface but that's most likely because the studios has really started moving forward on it so it counts as being in production.

What's James Gunn's Unannounced "Favorite Thing" DCU Project?

Gunn has a "favorite thing" that's a television series that's being kept on lockdown so no one steals it? How is that not begging for speculation? Just to make it clear, this is just a theory and nothing more. That said, I'm really hoping that it's a live-action anthology series that would offer single-episode spotlights on various characters in the new DCU: heroes, villains, and everyone and everything in between. Why would that be pretty awesome? For a couple of reasons. First, it would take some of the pressure off the films to have to have any number of other characters appearing (unless they're essential to the story). Second, it would be a great way to test the waters on certain characters without having to commit to a full series or feature film upfront to see if they're popular enough to warrant a return. Third, it's an effective way to quickly expand the DCU without leaning too hard on the films and shows to accomplish that goal.

I know that some will argue that Marvel Studios was kinda-sorta doing that with "Special Presentation" efforts like Werewolf By Night. Still, they were infrequent at best (and possibly even less frequent now that Marvel Studios has pulled back on the number of films and shows it produces). For what we're talking about, we could see a 6-8-episode season of one-hour adventures, or possibly a season of three, 90-minute specials (like how Columbo and Sherlock were rolled out), and a mix of live-action and animated would also be intriguing. While there are a number of ways it could be approached, a DCU anthology series could be exactly what DC Studios needs to stand out from the pack.

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