J.K. Simmons may be returning to the DC Extended Universe in a new film.
Simmons, who was cast as Commissioner James Gordon in Justice League and Zack Snyder’s Justice League, is reportedly in negotiations to return as Gordon in the Batgirl HBO Max project, according to The Hollywood Reporter. If he does sign on to the project, Simmons would join Leslie Grace, who was reportedly cast as the titular character.
The duo of Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah will co-direct the film, which is being written by Christina Hodson, the writer of Birds Of Prey and The Flash. Hodson was hired in 2018 to write the screenplay after Joss Whedon left the project and said that he did not have an idea that “fit in the space that was left for it.”
Simmons has had an incredibly successful career, as seen by his victory at the 2014 Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as jazz instructor Terence Fletcher in Whiplash. To superhero fans, however, Simmons may be best known for his time as Daily Bugle editor-in-chief J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy in the mid-2000s. He will reportedly return to the role in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which releases at the end of the year.
The role of Gordon seemed to intrigue Simmons, who said in 2019 that he had signed on to play the role in multiple movies and that he wanted to continue to portray the iconic Batman character. In the DC Extended Universe, Simmons has been the only actor to play the role, but Jeffrey Wright will become the first African-American actor to portray Gordon in a live-action movie in Matt Reeves’ The Batman.
The Batgirl project is expected to release sometime in 2022 on the HBO Max streaming platform.
