James Gunn won’t let Chris Pratt or Pom Klementieff play themselves in the DCU for ‘reasons’

James Gunn is creating a universe for DC in a partial reboot but with his hand previously in the Marvel pot for the successful Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, some may wonder: will Gunn wrangle some of the stars from that franchise for the DC Universe?

As the co-CEO of DC Studios, alongside Peter Safran, Gunn now has executive authority for the creative direction of the comic book franchise moving forward. He’s even writing and directing the forthcoming Superman: Legacy in 2025, an impressive feat considering he must balance filmmaking duties with work as an exec. for the studio.

Luckily, Gunn is highly active on social media, giving us a small glimmer into the DCU’s future. At least, that is what one could take away from his latest post on Threads. When a fan suggested he cast Guardians stars Chris Pratt or Pom Klementieff “as themselves” in season two of the DC series Peacemaker, Gunn gave an eyebrow-raising response: “There are reasons I wouldn’t want either of those actors to play themselves in the DCU!”

On the surface, the statement appears to not particularly say anything of significance since it’s a null result rather than a confirmation of anything. However, when you deduce what possible “reasons” Gunn has for not casting Pratt or Klementieff in meta roles, the purely speculative hypotheticals become increasingly interesting. Might Gunn be eyeing Pratt or Klementieff in roles as superheroes in the DCU and that is why he wouldn’t want to cast them as themselves in the same world? Only time can tell.

Technically, Klementieff has already appeared in a DC project directed by Gunn. She played a minor character in 2021’s The Suicide Squad in an uncredited role as a dancer at a club, according to IMDb. However, it is doubtful this role will develop into anything significant in the forthcoming DCU since the film in question was technically under the old regime’s now-defunct DC Extended Universe.

For now, the sky appears to be the limit as to the possible roles either Pratt or Klementieff could hypothetically play in Gunn’s DCU. However, Booster Gold has already been singled out as a fan-favorite selection for Pratt.