We’ve heard a lot of takes on the future of the SnyderVerse in recent weeks, from it not happening to hints that things could work out if Zack Snyder and Warner Bros. can mend their relationship. Although the success of Justice League gave the DCEU franchise a boost, it does seem that WB are going in new directions, most notably with J.J. Abrams. However, this month’s merger between AT&T’s WarnerMedia and Discovery could turn out to be a positive one for Snyder fans.
According to prolific insider Daniel Richtman, the corporate changeover means that Discovery’s CEO and President David Zaslav will be in a senior position to Warner executives Ann Sarnoff, Walter Hamada, Jason Kilar and Toby Emmerich. Considering that Snyder’s partnership with the studio has often been testy, with the filmmaker happy to publicly play on his negative experiences, might the reorganization at AT&T represent a fresh start of sorts? Richtman certainly thinks so, saying that there’s now a “strong chance” of the SnyderVerse being restored.
That being said, without knowing what Zaslav thinks of Snyder or the overall DC properties, it’s difficult to tell whether a revised strategy will be put into place anytime soon. Indeed, the generally strong reception of Justice League was offset by reported tensions between HBO Max and WarnerMedia over continuing its storylines, with the former group apparently keen to capitalize on the Snyder Cut’s popularity. As a result, making this kind of U-turn about the SnyderVerse would risk further problems across the conglomerate.
Based on the different reports about AT&T’s higher-level perspective on everything from the SnyderVerse to DC Comics, we’d be cautious about predicting what’s going to happen over the next few years. For Zack Snyder’s part, he may well now be happier to exclusively set up shop at Netflix following the creative freedoms he received on Army of the Dead.
Regardless of how the shakeup with Discovery goes, though, its effects on Warner’s current development slate are unlikely to be felt for some time, especially since there’s been no evidence that Zaslav wants to dramatically alter WarnerMedia’s direction by restoring the SnyderVerse.
