Alan Ritchson’s DC Future Just Got Murkier After James Gunn’s Sudden Exit
Greg is a Lead TV Writer & Critic at Screen Rant with expertise in new streaming releases. He's published over 3000 articles at SR, including weekly recommendation guides and dozens of reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. He previously worked in Development at ABC Television & Lawrence Bender Productions.
Greg majored in Film Production at Chapman University's Dodge College. Greg also has years of broadcast TV production experience at major networks such as NBC, TNT, and ESPN. He currently lives in Greater Boston.
Following the announcement of James Gunn and Peter Safran stepping down as co-CEOs of DC Studios, Alan Ritchson's future in the DCU just got murkier. Just weeks ago, Safran confirmed that DC was in talks with Ritchson for multiple projects. Now that DC Studios will be under new leadership from former Marvel Studios executive Jeremy Latcham, these recent developments make Ritchson's role in the DCU much less clear. Given Ritchson's interest in joining the modern DCU, this sudden change certainly shakes his candidacy up.
Ritchson has appeared in several previous DCU projects in the past, including his role as Arthur Curry/Aquaman in the hit television series Smallville and Hank Hall/Hawk in the HBO Max series Titans. Ritchson's star power has grown immensely as the titular lead in Prime Video's massively successful Reacher franchise, suggesting that a more significant role would become available to him within Gunn and Safran's DCU. Now that Latcham, who served as a producer on The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Spider-Man: Homecoming, is officially in the DCU driver's seat as of December 1, a completely new rollout strategy may be introduced that could exclude Ritchson.
DC’s Leadership Shake-Up Creates New Uncertainty For Alan Ritchson
During Gunn and Safran's 4-year run as CEOs and chairmen of DC Studios, they released a Superman reboot that introduced David Corenswet as the latest Man of Steel, as well as Supergirl, which fell far below box office expectations. The duo was expected to retain their executive roles after the historic Paramount/Skydance acquisition of Warner Bros. earlier this year, with their upcoming Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow as well as the long-awaited sequel to Robert Pattinson's Batman slated for release. While these projects remain intact, this leadership update has cast a cloud of uncertainty over the modern DCU, which includes how Ritchson could enter the fold.
Ritchson previously expressed interest in becoming the DCU's new Bruce Wayne/Batman, but talks with Gunn have led the 43-year-old actor to officially shut down that prospect. Instead, Gunn and Safran were searching for a role within their DCU that better fit Ritchson's age range, while also trying to land on a role that would have given Ritchson a more morally complex, less full-blown superhero character to play. It's important to note that Gunn and Safran are staying on at DC Studios to commit full-time to creative projects, suggesting that there is still hope for Ritchson to match their initial vision. If that happens, they'll have to do so under the discretion of Jeremy Latcham.
Peter Safran Confirmed DC Talks With Alan Ritchson Just Weeks Before His Exit
On October 26, 2026, Peter Safran confirmed that DC was still in talks with Ritchson and noted that while interest was there, the right role for him had yet to be ascertained within Gunn's superhero universe. He stated, "We talked about a couple things, but nothing that's come to fruition at this point. I think he's great. Yeah, but he's just good. I also think there's a lot more depth to him than you might have seen. I think there's more that he can do that people haven't seen." These comments suggest that Safran and Gunn saw clear potential in the idea of Ritchson joining their DCU, specifically in finding him an ideal role that would tap into his abilities as both an action star and a performer.
The fact that Safran and Gunn hadn't landed on the right role for Ritchson in their DCU might actually work in Ritchson's favor, as Latcham may potentially be more eager to cash in on Ritchson's immediate draw and emergence as a one-man-army movie star. Ritchson remains one of the most sought-after leads in the action genre, having recently starred in Runner, War Machine, Playdate, and Motor City, all of which were met with mixed, if not poor, reviews. While the new leadership at DC Studios makes Alan Ritchson's DCU future unclear, it could also finally land him the role we've all been waiting for.
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