James Gunn Says It Was ‘Terrible’ to Tell Henry Cavill He Was No Longer Superman Amid DCU Reboot: ‘It Was Really Unfair to Him’

"This poor guy," Gunn recalled thinking.

James Gunn is detailing how Henry Cavill was informed he would no longer play Superman in the DCU. Gunn, who wrote and directed the latest “Superman” film, was appointed co-head of DC Studios after the WBD merger. Cavill was teased to reprising the role during a “Black Adam” cameo in 2022 while Gunn, though, was already in the works on a script that centered on a younger version of the titular character. “Superman” was a casualty during the changing of the guards at DC, and that left Cavill in the dust after starring as the hero in three previous features. David Corenswet was later cast in the lead role, as announced in 2023, with “Superman” being Gunn’s first feature on his rebooted DCU slate.

Now, Gunn is recalling the discussion he had with Cavill to inform him that he wouldn’t be back as Clark Kent. “It’s terrible,” Gunn said during Josh Horowitz’s acclaimed “Happy Sad Confused” podcast in the below video of how the whole ordeal was handled at WBD. “Believe it or not, the day we were dealing with trying to figure out if we could take the job at DC Studios, […] the day the deal closed, all of a sudden, they were announcing that Henry was back. And I was like, ‘What is going on? We know what the plan is. The plan was to come in and do “Superman.”‘ It was really unfair to him and a total bummer.”

Gunn added of the internal studio mismanagement at the time, “There was a vacuum at the time and a lot of people were… They had a take on what they wanted to do at DC and they were trying to force their way and it was just never part of the equation for [WBD CEO] David Zaslav. We came in, and that was really unfortunate. I’m like, ‘This poor guy.'”

Gunn and his co-chair Peter Safran “sat down” with Cavill to discuss the change. “He was an absolute gentleman and a great guy about it,” Gunn said of Cavill’s reaction. “He said, ‘The only thing I ask is that I’m able to reveal it myself as opposed to coming from you guys.’ And I’m like, ‘That’s a class act.'”

And don’t count Cavill out of the DCU under Gunn just yet: The director “would love” for Cavill to be cast in a different role in the franchise. “I talked to him about it on that day,” he said. “I would love to put Henry in something.”