DC’s Booster Gold TV Show Gets Terrible Update From Creator, Will the DCU Go Another Way?
As the DC Universe franchise looks to establish its footing, James Gunn and Co. are taking full advantage of the HBO Max platform, greenlighting a wave of TV shows. The first project in this new continuity was actually the animated series Creature Commandos. Audiences have also been treated to the second season of Peacemaker, and sci-fi crime drama Lanterns is on the way this summer. With the Jimmy Olsen/Gorilla Grodd series casting the latter character and a Mister Terrific spinoff reportedly in development, TV will continue to be a key part of DC Studios’ strategy moving forward. However, one of the most exciting titles that was in the works has hit a dead end.
On Threads, David Jenkins, who was on track to be the showrunner for Booster Gold, revealed the series has been canceled. Quote posting Mahershala Ali’s reaction to Marvel Studios’ Blade movie being scrapped, Jenkins said he “can’t improve on Mahershala’s lovely statement,” so he applied it to his own situation with Booster Gold.
UPDATE: According to The Wrap, Booster Gold “will still move forward at DC Studios with a new creative team,” meaning the project has not been outright cancelled. The original article follows.
Will DC Studios Find a Way to Revive Booster Gold?
This reveal from Jenkins will surely come as a disappointment to DC fans, especially since DC Studios co-head James Gunn shared that Booster Gold was still “in development” only a few months ago. It’s unknown what happened between then and now (Jenkins doesn’t go into detail about what happened behind the scenes), but the higher-ups decided it was time to pull the plug. Since Gunn has maintained that no DC Studios movie or series will move forward unless he’s happy with the scripts, it’s possible this was the hold up on Booster Gold. The creative team may not have been able to crack the narrative in a way that satisfied Gunn and Peter Safran’s vision for the project.
News of Booster Gold being scrapped comes hot on the heels of Disney surprisingly cancelling Marvel’s critically acclaimed Wonder Man. The Wonder Man situation is seen as the latest example of Disney’s strategy to shift away from streaming programming in the back half of the decade, feeling that the peak streaming era is over. DC Studios still has plenty of TV projects in the works, but they could be taking a page from Disney’s playbook, opting to scale back a bit on small screen offerings as they evaluate the current state of their upcoming slate.
Booster Gold was one of the many DCU projects Gunn formally unveiled a few years ago in a video outlining the “Gods and Monsters” lineup. In that video, Gunn referred to the series as “the superhero story of imposter syndrome,” as Booster Gold travels back in time and uses his futuristic technology to paint himself as an awe-inspiring superhero that people will love. It sounded like a great concept for a TV series with the potential for a narrative that could have been equal parts amusing and poignant, drawing from the character’s rich history in the comics. It’s worth wondering if DC Studios could revive the project as a feature film instead, but fans shouldn’t hold their breath for that. Last year, Gunn said he probably wasn’t going to sign off on movies based on “characters who [audiences] don’t know.” Booster Gold is a cult favorite amongst comic readers, but he doesn’t have the name recognition as some of DC’s heavy hitters.
That doesn’t necessarily mean a Booster Gold movie can’t happen. After all, Gunn’s big breakout was turning the obscure Guardians of the Galaxy into household names. However, in the wake of Supergirl bombing at the box office, DC Studios might be more selective about who gets the big-screen spotlight moving forward. The superhero movie landscape has changed a bit since the genre’s heyday during the 2010s. A-listers like Spider-Man are still capable of breaking records, but the B- and C-list characters are no longer guaranteed draws. That makes the prospect of turning Booster Gold into a movie challenging. DC Studios would have to really work at finding a compelling hook and making it something general audiences would want to see in theaters. If they can’t find a way, Booster Gold’s shot at on-screen fame might be dead, which would be a shame.
