DC Studios Cancels First Movie: James Gunn Comments on SGT. ROCK Not Moving Forward

It was only recently that we first heard that DC Studios was planning a movie based on their World War II action hero, Sgt. Rock. First, former 007 Daniel Craig was rumored to play him, before Colin Farrell landed the role. Most excitingly, Queer and Challengers director Luca Guadagnino was going to be at the helm of Sgt. Rock. Now, that all seems to be over just as fast as it started. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. and DC Studios have canceled the Sgt. Rock movie just as it was going into pre-production in the U.K.Searchlight Pictures/DC Comics

Sgt. Rock was in the middle of the casting process when the hammer came down from the studio. The production was looking for actors who would play the men of Easy Company. This was Rock’s combat unit who battled the Nazi forces in Europe. Among the actors lined up for a role, probably as a member of Easy Company, was Challengers’ Mike Faist. DC Studios was also casting the part of a female member of the French Resistance. Apparently, Sgt. Rock isn’t totally dead, and the studio might revisit it next year. Our guess? Warner Bros. wants to see how Superman and Supergirl fare before greenlighting anything new from DC Studios.

James Gunn recently commented on the canceled DC movie, although he didn’t refer to Sgt. Rock by name. He noted to Variety that DC Studios recently “killed a project.” And further shared, “Everybody wanted to make the movie. It was greenlit, ready to go. The screenplay wasn’t ready. And I couldn’t do a movie where the screenplay’s not good. And we’ve been really lucky so far, because ‘Supergirl’s’ script was so fucking good off the bat. And then ‘Lanterns’ came in, and the script was so fucking good. ‘Clayface,’ same thing. So fucking good. So we have these scripts that we’ve been really lucky with or wise in our choices or whatever the combination is.”

The original report says that the script by Justin Kuritzkes would have focused the Sgt. Rock movie on Easy Company, along with the female French resistance fighter, trying to find the mythical Spear of Destiny before the Nazis do. In DC Comics lore, Hitler possessed the Spear of Destiny, which supposedly protected him from harm. This was DC’s in-canon reason why Doctor Fate and the Justice Society didn’t just swoop into Germany and take him out. The premise gives us real Indiana Jones vibes, and sounds like it would have been fun. Hopefully, DC Studios will be in a position to resurrect Luca Guadagnino’s Sgt. Rock movie someday.

Originally published on April 30, 2025.

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