James Gunn Says the DCU’s Future Is ‘Unknown’ After Netflix-Warner Bros. Shake-Up
On December 5, 2025, it was announced that Netflix had reached an agreement to purchase Warner Bros.'s film and TV studios, including HBO and HBO Max. While the deal, which has been approximated at being valued at $82.7 billion, still might not go through, it will have huge effects if it comes to fruition.
If Netflix makes the massive purchase, it will gain the rights to a slew of TV shows and movie franchises. One of the most notable things that Netflix will gain in the proposed deal is the movies and TV shows that have been produced based on characters from DC Comics. The current DCU will be wrapped up in the potential sale, which makes it fascinating that James Gunn has commented on how that could affect the franchise.
James Gunn Called the Future of the DCU 'Unknown' Following the Proposed Netflix/Warner Bros. Purchase
On October 25, 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery's website announced that James Gunn and Peter Safran had been named as the Co-Chairmen and CEOs of DC Studios. Since then, Gunn has made several announcements about planned movies and TV shows that were planned to be part of the DCU, an overarching franchise based on DC Comics characters. Not only that, Gunn has worked on DCU movies like Superman, Supergirl, and Clayface in roles like writer, director, and producer. Gunn has also taken on those kinds of roles on DCU shows like Peacemaker, Creature Commandos, and Lanterns.
As a result of his role as one of the DCU architects and the work he has done on those projects and more, Gunn is the person that the majority of fans most associate with the franchise. That has made many fans want to know what Gunn thinks about Netflix possibly gaining ownership of the DCU. On January 2nd, 2026, the YouTube channel for Variety Podcasts uploaded an episode of its Awards Circuit podcast, which featured Gunn as a guest. During that podcast episode, Gunn was asked if he had high hopes for how the potential Netflix purchase could affect the DCU at around the 33-minute mark. In response, Gunn began by addressing the fact that the future of the DCU is "unknown" before talking about how "exciting" the situation is.
"Do I have hopes? No, I really don't because everything's unknown. I think it's all really exciting, frankly. So, I hope and pray for the best. I've been through these sort of changes so many times that, you know, I'm always.. be careful what you wish for because you don't really know until you know. I hope it goes well. Every direction has really exciting things for DC. So, I'm excited about where it's going to go."
Gunn was then asked about his DC Studios Co-Chairmen and Co-CEO, Peter Safran. That led to Gunn revealing that the two of them have been trying to figure out what will happen with the DCU since they know as little about the potential Netflix and Warner Bros. deal as fans do.
"Peter's the greatest. He really is. I love having a guy who's one of my best friends in the world that I'm able to talk to every day. I just talked to him on the phone this afternoon about some of the stuff that's, you know, us trying to figure out what's going on because we don't know any more than they do."