Doug Liman Reportedly No Longer Attached To 'Gambit'

 

Director Doug Liman has agreed terms to helm Justice League Dark for Warner Bros. – at the expense of Gambit, it seems. Injecting new life into the languishing superhero project, word of Liman’s appointment comes by way of Variety, revealing that this new interpretation of DC and Warner’s Dark Universe will be penned by Michael Gilio. It’s welcome news for fans of the cult supernatural property, though such a coup only portends trouble for the Channing Tatum-fronted Gambit spinoff, with sources close to Variety claiming that Liman has now departed the troubled X-Men spinoff.

Though 20th Century Fox offered no comment at the time of writing, that’s an amicable split that had been long in the cards, given that Liman has been quietly lining up additional projects beyond the mutant universe over the past few months, during which time Gambit was ordered to the drawing board to perfect the film’s tone.

Justice League Dark has endured development setbacks of its own. Chief among them being the loss of Guillermo del Toro in 2015, who was originally attached to write and direct. Leave it to WB producer Scott Rudin, then, to steer the adaptation back on track. A flurry of rumors quickly followed Rudin’s addition but to date, there’s no concrete casting news to report.

What we do know is that Justice League Dark is shaping up to be a supernatural adventure flick comprised of John Constantine, Swamp Thing, Deadman, Zatanna and Etrigan the Demon. Perhaps most exciting of all is that Doug Liman’s ensemble piece is said to play a major role in Warner’s DC Extended Universe, and it’ll be fascinating to see how audiences take to the eclectic material following Batman V Superman and Suicide Squad.