James Gunn Explains Why The Authority Fell by the Wayside: ‘It Didn’t Work in Terms of the Larger DCU’

DC Universe chief James Gunn has insisted TV series Booster Gold and Paradise Lost are still alive, but confirmed The Authority movie has fallen by the wayside.

In a series of posts on Threads, Gunn said Booster Gold is “in development,” and Paradise Lost is “in extreme development,” which suggests the latter is further along. Gunn, busy on production of next year’s Superman follow-up, Man of Tomorrow, isn’t writing either series.

It’s bad news for The Authority, though. Gunn explained why the movie has fallen by the wayside: “The script wasn’t quite there but more importantly it didn’t work in terms of the larger DCU both in terms of the story and practical concerns. Maybe some day. Not soon.”

The Authority was one of the surprise projects announced as part of Gunn and co-DC Studios CEO Peter Safran’s overarching Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters DC Universe reboot three years ago. At the time, Gunn described The Authority, which revolves around the infamously brutal superhero team of the same name from the WildStorm Universe, as a “big movie.” But it ran into significant issues.

Speaking at a DC Studios presentation attended by IGN last year, Gunn called The Authority the “hardest” of the announced Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters projects, and pointed to Amazon’s smash hit adaptation of The Boys as one of the contributing factors.

“Honestly, Authority’s been the one that’s been the hardest, both because of the shifting overall story and because of getting it right in a world with The Boys and a world with all the things that The Authority influenced that came out after it,” Gunn admitted.

“And also having a lot of characters that we’ve fallen in love with that we’ve already filmed, and we want to continue their stories and see them meet each other. So I will admittedly say it’s a little bit more on the back burner right now.”

Gunn has maintained that DC Studios will not green light a film “until we have a finished script we’re happy with and, in general, we won’t cast a film until the script is finished. This is why some projects are moving faster than anticipated and others more slowly. It’s always gonna be quality first no matter what.”

We actually did get a character from The Authority in last year’s Superman: electronics prodigy The Engineer / Angela Spica. The Engineer is arguably the most powerful member of the group as she can self-duplicate, is a technopath, and has a genius-level intellect and radio-induced telepathy. Check out IGN’s article, Who Are the Authority: The WildStorm DCU Characters Explained, for more. Will The Engineer return for Man of Tomorrow?

Either way, it sounds like that’s that for The Authority. But it sounds like Booster Gold has a decent chance of making it, and Paradise Lost has a good chance of coming out. For the uninitiated, Paradise Lost is described as “a Game of Thrones-type story about Themyscira,” the birthplace of Wonder Woman. It will take place before Wonder Woman’s birth and tell the origin story of the nation of the Amazons.

The question is, when will Booster Gold and Paradise Lost come out? Right now, we have confirmed releases for HBO show Lanterns, movies Supergirl and Clayface, and the aforementioned Man of Tomorrow. The Brave and the Bold will introduce a new Batman into the DCU, but there’s no sign of a release window for that yet.

Photo by River Callaway/Variety via Getty Images.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.