DC’s upcoming cinematic slate has a raft of films scheduled to bombard multiplexes across the span of five years. Between 2016 and 2020 the connections between those properties earmarked by DC and Warner Bros. will strengthen, making the DC-verse an opponent worthy of the crown currently worn by Marvel’s Cinematic Universe.
However, one glaring omission from that roster was Justice League Dark; the gothic supernatural counterpart to DC’s central Justice League. While horror auteur Guillermo del Toro has been attached to the adaptation for years, his stacked plate of future projects might mean he’s unable to steer this ragtag bunch to the big screen.
The last official word we heard implied that del Toro had submitted a script, which he may have penned along with a top secret co-writer, and was awaiting further instructions from the studio. Since then, Justice League Dark has been confirmed as part of the bigger DC Cinematic Universe, and a tentative line-up of characters was leaked by the scoopsters over at Latino Review.
In light of a new interview with IGN, the state of Del Toro’s existing commitments may lead him away from the project. Talking to the outlet during the press rounds for his TV show The Strain, the director reinforced what we already knew about the script before citing the ole troublesome “scheduling conflicts” as one reason why he might not lens the pic:
“We turned in our [script] revision, and it all depends on the calendar, you know?” del Toro told IGN during a press event for his TV show The Strain today. “If I can do it, I would love to do it. And I think the screenplay and the characters are very solid.”
Should del Toro’s hectic schedule become an overriding issue, the helmer stated that the studio would simply find someone else to direct. A packed dayplanner aside, the matter of weaving the movie into the larger DC-verse has its drawbacks that might be the final straw:
“You cannot say, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it after I do this,’ or ‘I have the first season of The Strain,'” said the filmmaker. “[Justice League Dark] needs to fall into the plan of the DC Universe.”
The next year alone sees the release of del Toro’s Victorian gothic horror Crimson Peak, after which comes The Strain season 2, and it’s these two projects that may determine whether or not he’ll step behind the camera for Justice League Dark.
