Yes, it’s official: James Gunn and Peter Safran are leaving their jobs running DC Studios. Skydance announced on November 9, 2026 that former Marvel executive Jeremy Latcham will take over as President and Chief Creative Officer of DC Studios on December 1. Gunn and Safran aren’t disappearing from DC, though. They’re going back to full-time creative work, and Gunn’s Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow, is still set for July 9, 2027.
Here’s what happened, who Latcham is, and what the change could mean for the DC movies and shows fans are waiting on.
What Happened at DC Studios?
Skydance, which now owns Warner Bros. after Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery closed in October, said Gunn and Safran “will step away from their leadership roles after four years transforming DC Studios” and “return full time to their creative work.” The announcement landed on the same day Skydance reported its third-quarter earnings, according to Deadline.
The news caught a lot of people off guard. Variety called it a surprise, noting that the pair had been named to David Ellison’s leadership team when the Warner Bros. deal closed only weeks earlier. Deadline reported that its sources had said the duo were staying after the merger, but that Safran’s contract was due to expire in the spring.
What Gunn and Safran said
In a joint statement released by Skydance, Gunn and Safran said: “Four years ago, we set out to unite DC under one creative vision. In that time, we helped restore Superman to the heart of DC, while opening new doors and telling new stories in film and television with Peacemaker, Creature Commandos, Lanterns and Clayface.” They added that they’re “excited to return to what drew us to this job in the first place, which is telling the stories we love, including the next chapter of Clark and Lex’s journey in Man of Tomorrow.”
A new reporting structure
There’s one more change that matters for how DC runs. Deadline points out that Gunn and Safran reported straight to the company’s CEO. Latcham will instead report to Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, co-chairs of Skydance Motion Picture Group, which puts DC on the same footing as the other Warner film labels rather than as a stand-alone studio.
Who Is Jeremy Latcham?
Latcham was part of the founding team of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Skydance credits him with helping shape franchises including Iron Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man and The Avengers, and he was Marvel’s senior vice president of production and development. He also already knows Gunn well, since the two worked together on Guardians of the Galaxy.
He left Marvel in 2017 to start Latcham Pictures. Since then, per Deadline, he has produced Bad Times at the El Royale and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, and he’s been developing a Dungeons & Dragons sequel and an Action Man film at Hasbro Entertainment. He’s also producing a live-action Naruto film for Lionsgate and Sony.
At DC, he’ll oversee the film, television and animation slate, including the creative pipeline, production, talent and strategy. In Skydance’s announcement, Latcham called the job “a massive responsibility that I do not take lightly” and said he wants to build “something ambitious for longtime DC fans and newcomers alike.”
How Did Gunn and Safran’s DC Era Go?
The short answer is: mixed. IndieWire summed it up as “mixed success,” and the numbers back that up.
- Superman, which Gunn wrote and directed, earned about $618.7 million worldwide.
- Clayface, a lower-budget R-rated horror film with a reported net cost of $44 million, was No. 1 worldwide two weeks in a row and has passed $109 million.
- Supergirl was the big miss. Deadline reports it cost a net $186 million and grossed only $126.4 million worldwide.
On TV, the pair’s run included two seasons of Peacemaker, the animated Creature Commandos and the recent HBO Max series Lanterns, which Deadline describes as a viewership success. Their bigger plan, the “Gods and Monsters” slate announced in January 2023, also saw several projects stall, including the Viola Davis series Waller, the Wonder Woman-adjacent Paradise Lost, Booster Gold and The Authority.
That kind of shared, cross-platform universe is hard to pull off, and it’s the same challenge every big franchise faces. We looked at the wider trend in our piece on how cross-platform storytelling builds entertainment universes.
What Happens to Man of Tomorrow and The Batman Part II?
For now, the big upcoming projects look safe. Here’s where the main titles stand, based on Skydance’s announcement and Deadline’s reporting:
- Man of Tomorrow: Written and directed by Gunn and produced by Gunn and Safran, it’s in post-production and still dated for July 9, 2027. It continues the story of Clark Kent and Lex Luthor.
- The Batman Part II: Robert Pattinson returns, and the film is in production, with Gunn and Safran as producers. Deadline lists a February 18, 2028 release.
- The People v. Gorilla Grodd: The eight-episode HBO Max series, starring Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen and Jimmy Tatro as Gorilla Grodd, has finished filming and is expected in 2027.
What’s less clear is everything further down the line. Deadline notes it “will be interesting to see what projects Goldberg, Greenstein and Latcham keep intact,” and points to early buzz around a James Mangold Swamp Thing film and an Andy Muschietti take on Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Neither Skydance nor Latcham has said anything yet about which in-development projects will move forward.
What It Means for DC Fans
Skydance’s statement leans hard on fans. Goldberg and Greenstein said that under Latcham, “every film and television show will be ushered from start to finish through the prism of the legions of fans who love and champion it.” That suggests the studio wants to win back viewers who felt mixed about recent releases, while keeping the films already in the pipeline on track.
Fan reaction online has been split, as you’d expect for a franchise with such a passionate base. If you’re curious why online communities have so much sway over studio decisions now, our explainer on how fan culture shapes entertainment trends covers it. And with the merger also reshaping streaming, it’s worth reading our look at streaming and subscription fatigue.
FAQ
Was James Gunn fired from DC Studios?
Skydance described it as Gunn and Safran stepping away from their leadership roles to return to creative work. Variety’s headline called it a firing. Either way, they’re out as heads of DC Studios and Jeremy Latcham takes over on December 1, 2026.
Is James Gunn still making Man of Tomorrow?
Yes. Gunn wrote and directed it, and he and Safran are still producing. It’s in post-production and due in theaters July 9, 2027.
When does Jeremy Latcham start at DC?
December 1, 2026. He’ll be President and Chief Creative Officer of DC Studios, reporting to Skydance Motion Picture Group co-chairs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein.
Is The Batman Part II affected?
Not so far. It’s in production with Robert Pattinson, and Gunn and Safran remain producers. Deadline lists a February 18, 2028 release.
Featured image: James Gunn in 2024, photo by Erik Drost, licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons, resized.
