James Gunn and Peter Safran Out at DC Studios: Jeremy Latcham Takes Over

James Gunn is out at DC Studios, and so is Peter Safran. Skydance announced on Monday, November 9, 2026 that Jeremy Latcham, a Marvel veteran, is replacing them as head of DC’s film, TV and animation. Here is what Skydance has confirmed, what outlets only report, and what it means for the DCU slate.

What Skydance announced

• Who announced it: Skydance. TheWrap says its CEOs David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz were complimentary of Gunn and Safran’s stewardship in the announcement.
• The new boss: Jeremy Latcham becomes president and chief creative officer of DC Studios, according to headlines from Hollywood Reporter, IndieWire and others. One outlet reports a December 1 start date, but we could not confirm it directly.
• Who he reports to: Skydance film heads Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg. Gunn and Safran reported to Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav.
• His background: Latcham was part of Marvel’s founding core under Kevin Feige. He worked on Iron Man, The Avengers and the Spider-Man films, helped shepherd Guardians of the Galaxy, and left Marvel in 2017. More recently he produced Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.

Why it happened, according to reports

However, none of this is an official reason, because Skydance has not explained the change. TheWrap’s analysis, which relies on unnamed insiders, points to three things:

• Box office. It describes Supergirl as a bomb at $126 million worldwide and says Clayface made $109 million through three weekends against a $40 million budget, “respectable” but not what Skydance wants. Superman (2025) made $618 million.
• A new owner. Skydance took control of DC Studios with the Warner Bros. acquisition, and insiders say Ellison had been in quiet talks with Latcham for over a month before the deal closed on October 6. An insider relayed Ellison telling employees: “We are not here to preserve the status quo.”
• Creative tension. TheWrap also reports friction between Gunn and Supergirl director Craig Gillespie.

Also, according to TheWrap, Gunn said on Monday that he was supposed to write an upcoming DC movie that may or may not still happen. Meanwhile, insiders disagree on how much notice Gunn and Safran got: three say less than 24 hours, and two say they heard on Friday.

What happens to the DCU slate

Nobody has said yet. Still, the reporting tells us a few things:

• Man of Tomorrow arrives next year, is already in post-production, and is reportedly the only DC film on the release calendar.
• The People vs. Gorilla Grodd recently finished filming. It has no release date.
• Lanterns averaged 19.3 million viewers on HBO. Nobody has announced a second season.
• The Batman Part II is Matt Reeves’ film, which Gunn has said sits outside the DCU continuity.
• The mandate: Insiders expect Ellison to want the Justice League back on screen, with Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash and other big names ahead of smaller heroes. However, that is reporting, not an announcement.

The open question, though, is whether Latcham keeps Gunn’s cast and storylines, including David Corenswet’s Superman, or resets them. Nothing official has answered it. Our earlier posts on the slate, the DCU 2026 outlook, the new Constantine movie and the Lanterns hub, are all now carrying an asterisk until Latcham speaks.

Our take

This is a business decision more than a creative one. The reports point to a studio that disliked its numbers, and a new owner that wanted its own person. But that does not tell us the DCU is over. It only tells us the plan Gunn set out in 2022 is no longer guaranteed.

So the safest reading is the boring one. Man of Tomorrow is finished or close to it, so Superman will likely arrive. After that, everything, including Lanterns season 2, the Batman reboot and Constantine, depends on a man who has not yet taken the job. Meanwhile, we will update this post when Latcham or Skydance says anything on the record.

More DC: what critics said about Clayface, the Supergirl ending explained and the Lanterns season 1 ending explained.

Does a Marvel veteran running DC excite you, or worry you? Tell us in the comments.

Sources: TheWrap analysis, November 10, 2026; headlines and reporting from The Hollywood Reporter, Variety and IndieWire. Box office figures and the reasons for the change come from TheWrap, and Skydance and Warner Bros. have not confirmed them. Featured image: James Gunn, photo by Erik Drost, licensed under CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. DC and all related characters are property of DC Comics and Warner Bros.