Warner Bros. Cancels Plans For DC Films New Gods, The Trench

The DC Extended Universe has become a bit smaller, as Warner Bros. has pulled plans for The Trench and New Gods. THR reports that the studio has put the kibosh on the films, which were to be directed by James Wan and Ava DuVernay, respectively.

“As part of our DC slate, some legacy development titles including New Gods and The Trench will not be moving forward,” Warner Bros. and DC said in a statement. “We thank our partners Ava DuVernay, Tom King, James Wan and Peter Safran for their time and collaboration during this process and look forward to our continued partnership with them on other DC stories. The projects will remain in their skillful hands if they were to move forward in the future.”

The Trench was supposed to be a spin-off from Aquaman and would focus on the monstrous creatures in the titular area as seen in the Jason Momoa film. The film was to have more of a horror feel and while it was said that the Aquaman sequel was “considered enough,” Warner Bros. is open to reviving the film down the line if the demand is there.

Meanwhile, New Gods was written by DuVernay and would have been directed by her, focusing on the titular characters from DC’s cosmic side. The problem there was that Darkseid, who is the primary villain, just appeared in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. DC and Warner Bros. wanted to “have space” between that film and a future appearance by Darkseid. DC Films is also open to revisting this film down the line.

The studio still has several DC movies and shows in development or production including The Batman, Aquaman 2, The Flash, Black Adam, The Suicide Squad spinoff series Peacemaker, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Blue Beetle, Supergirl, Batgirl, Green Lantern Corps, Zatanna, Wonder Woman 3, and Ta-Nehisi Coates’ new Superman film, among others. Wan is still set to write and direct Aquaman 2 and DuVernay is co-writing and producing The CW’s Naomi series. DuVernay wrote on Twitter about New Gods’ cancellation:

https://twitter.com/ava/status/1377725452228431873