James Gunn is leaving the top job at DC Studios. James Gunn is not leaving DC. That distinction became very important on November 9, when Skydance announced that Gunn and Peter Safran would step away from their leadership positions after four years running DC Studios. Former Marvel executive Jeremy Latcham will become president and chief creative officer on December 1, 2026, overseeing DC’s film, television and animation slate.
For anyone who immediately read that news as “the James Gunn DC era is over,” Gunn himself has already made it clear things aren’t that simple. In the statement he posted after the announcement, Gunn admitted that the executive side of the job had been difficult and said he was “incredibly relieved and excited to get back to pure filmmaking.” More importantly, he confirmed that Man of Tomorrow is still coming and revealed that he and Safran have already been engaged on another DC project that he is writing.
That sounds less like a farewell and more like a job change. So what might filmmaker James Gunn actually make now that studio-head James Gunn is stepping away? Here are the five possibilities we’re watching — starting with the pure fan-dream territory and ending with the projects Gunn has actually confirmed.
5. A completely unexpected DC character
If there is one lesson Gunn’s career should have taught superhero fans by now, it is never to assume he needs an A-list character to make something interesting. Before Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket Raccoon and Groot were hardly household names. The Suicide Squad gave characters like Polka-Dot Man and Ratcatcher 2 emotional weight nobody walking into the theater expected. Peacemaker turned John Cena’s ridiculous helmet-wearing killer into the center of an HBO series.
That is why Gunn returning to full-time filmmaking immediately makes us wonder whether he might choose something weird. There is no confirmed Etrigan movie, Metal Men project or mystery deep-cut DC adaptation from Gunn. Those names have floated around fan discussions precisely because they feel like the sort of characters people imagine him enjoying, not because reliable reporting has connected them to his new script. And honestly, guessing the exact character almost misses the point.
The interesting possibility is simply that Gunn no longer has to divide his attention between directing a movie and overseeing everybody else’s movies. He could potentially spend that time obsessing over one strange corner of the DC library. His own statement, republished by Variety Australia, makes clear how much he disliked the corporate burden of the studio-head role. If getting rid of that burden leads to another deeply personal movie about some character most audiences barely know, we would not complain.
4. Another story using The Suicide Squad characters
This one is also speculation, so nobody should start celebrating The Suicide Squad 2 yet. No sequel has been announced. But Gunn’s DC work has always been unusually interconnected through characters rather than just logos. The Suicide Squad led directly into Peacemaker, and several characters from that corner of DC remained relevant after the larger DCU reboot began. That creates possibilities.
Gunn would not necessarily need to make a literal sequel. He could build something around one or two surviving characters, bring them into another ensemble or use them as supporting players in a completely different story. His post-exit statement is encouraging here for one specific reason: Gunn said that “the characters we set up will live on.” That doesn’t promise anything about Bloodsport, Ratcatcher 2, King Shark or anyone else from The Suicide Squad. It does, however, make clear that Gunn does not view the leadership change as a giant continuity reset erasing everything his DC Studios regime established.
Incoming DC Studios boss Jeremy Latcham will ultimately control the wider creative pipeline. Skydance’s official announcement says Latcham will oversee DC’s production, talent, strategy and film, TV and animation slate. So Gunn can still pitch stories. He just won’t be the guy approving every corner of the universe around them.
3. Peacemaker’s story continuing — even if it isn’t Season 3
This is where things get more interesting, because Peacemaker’s future has been deliberately left open. A traditional third season has not been announced. After the Season 2 finale, Gunn explained that there were no immediate plans for Peacemaker Season 3 because the story was feeding into the wider DCU instead. As TheWrap reported, Gunn stressed that Christopher Smith remained important even though another season was not the current plan.
That distinction suddenly matters even more now. Gunn created the series, wrote it and directed much of it. John Cena’s Peacemaker is one of the characters most closely associated with his DC work. If Gunn really wants to keep telling stories about characters he personally connects with, Chris Smith is an obvious candidate.
But we would not assume that means Peacemaker Season 3. Season 2 deliberately pushed pieces of its story into the broader DCU, including Salvation and the future of the supporting ensemble. Gunn himself repeatedly framed the finale as setup for stories beyond another conventional season.
Could Peacemaker turn up in Gunn’s mystery project? Maybe. Could some of the supporting characters carry another film or series? Also possible.
Could Latcham’s arrival change those plans entirely? Absolutely. What we can say is that Peacemaker’s story was not treated as finished when Season 2 ended. Gunn leaving the executive office doesn’t automatically change that.
2. Man of Tomorrow
Now we’re out of theory territory. Man of Tomorrow is happening. Skydance’s November 9 announcement explicitly confirms that Gunn wrote and directed the film, with Peter Safran producing, and that it is currently in post-production ahead of its theatrical release on July 9, 2027. The movie continues the story of David Corenswet’s Clark Kent/Superman and Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor.
And if Gunn’s own reaction is anything to judge by, this may be the project that convinced him what he actually wanted his DC future to look like. In his statement, Gunn called the process of making Man of Tomorrow “the best filmmaking experience of my life.” TheWrap’s coverage also quotes Gunn talking openly about how difficult balancing multiple studio-head responsibilities had become.
Put those two thoughts together. Running DC Studios was exhausting him. Making Man of Tomorrow was exhilarating him. You don’t need to be Batman’s detective to see where this is going.
The leadership change means Gunn can potentially spend much more of his time being the person who writes scenes, directs actors and shapes individual movies instead of being responsible for an entire corporate content machine. Man of Tomorrow therefore isn’t merely the final major project from his time running DC Studios. It may be the blueprint for what comes next.
1. Gunn’s mysterious new DC project
This is the one. Not because we know the most about it, but because we know almost nothing — except that Gunn himself has confirmed it exists. In his November 9 statement, Gunn revealed that he and Safran had “just been engaged on another DC project” that he is writing. No title. No character. No cast. No release date. We don’t even have enough verified information to confidently say whether it will be a movie or television project. And that immediately makes it the most fascinating thing on this list.
The timing is especially intriguing. Gunn isn’t announcing that he might someday return to DC if the right idea appears. He is stepping away from the management position while already writing another project for the company. That means his relationship with DC is continuing immediately.
The mystery project could theoretically connect to Peacemaker. It could involve characters introduced during his four-year tenure. It could be another major theatrical property. It could be something none of us are predicting.
Until Gunn or DC identifies it, attaching a specific character would be pure guessing. But creatively, this project represents something bigger. It is the first glimpse of James Gunn’s post-DC Studios leadership era.
Losing the executive title could actually give us more James Gunn
There is an irony to this whole situation. On paper, James Gunn stepping down from DC Studios sounds like he will have less influence over DC. On an individual-project level, we may actually get more of him.
Gunn wrote candidly that his four years running the studio had been “trying” and that he struggled with dividing himself between projects he deeply cared about and all the responsibilities that came with being a studio head. He specifically said he disliked the job’s corporate side. That makes this transition fundamentally different from a filmmaker being thrown out of a franchise and severing ties completely.
Skydance says Gunn and Safran are returning full-time to creative work. Gunn says he’s relieved to return to filmmaking. Man of Tomorrow is already in post-production. Another DC project is already being written. Meanwhile, Jeremy Latcham gets the giant headache of overseeing the entire machine from December 1.
For DC fans, the real question isn’t whether James Gunn is gone. He isn’t. The question is what kind of James Gunn we get now that he doesn’t have to run everything else. And if the answer is the guy who made Man of Tomorrow and immediately started writing another DC story, losing James Gunn the executive might be exactly how DC keeps James Gunn the filmmaker.
