I Will Miss James Gunn's Weird DCU

I was in James Gunn's home state of Missouri¹ – albeit the other side, in Kansas City – in the process of heading back to New York on Monday when the embargoed press release² came out that Gunn and Peter Safran would be "stepping down" from the DCU. Despite the claims that Gunn and Safran would be continuing on under the newly formed Skydance umbrella, did anyone actually believe this? I certainly didn't. I get they were probably told things were "good," but I've been told that in the past before, too, then found myself laid off the next week anyway. Gunn is a savvy guy and the typical Gen X, Midwesterner skeptic. I don't believe he found this to be 100 percent shocking news. And I kind of believe Gunn's statement about being "incredibly relieved." I've been both pissed and relived after losing a job. Both things can be true.

¹Though I went to high school in Kansas City, I was born in St. Louis at the same hospital as Sean Gunn, just a few days apart. And at the time my parents lived in Manchester, the city James Gunn references in his statement. I mention this to say I don‘t know James Gunn outside of a few interviews over the years, but I did root for him because of all this.

²When there's big news like this, the studio will often implement a short embargo on its press release, sometimes less than an hour, so outlets aren't racing in an effort to be first and, in the process, miss key details. I did not get this press release, but the news traveled quickly through text chains.

Gunn and Safran have been replaced by Jeremy Latcham, who I've asked around about and, from a source I deeply trust, I was told, "He's a really nice guy. I like him. He is very liked across the board." I get there's some online blowback, but creatives who have actually worked with Latcham do seem to like him.

Though, despite people seemingly liking Latcham, he has bosses to report to and who knows where any of this is headed. I suspect the powers that be don't even exactly know either, other than they didn't like this. Look, I'm the one who got yelled at for actually liking Supergirl. I did enjoy just how weird it all was. But now it's gone...

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