Batgirl Star Teases Shelved DC Movie Isn’t Dead — Fans Could Still Save It

Remember Batgirl, the DC movie Warner Bros. shot and then buried in 2022? More than three years later, one of its stars thinks there is still a pulse.

So... is Batgirl dead? Jacob Scipio says maybe not

While out promoting his new movie 'Maintenance Required', Jacob Scipio talked to The Direct about the long-shelved Batgirl and hinted that the story might not be over.

"I got the chance to watch it, and it was a phenomenal film. Man, I'm really sad the world never got to see it. But you know, you never know. You never know."

He also pointed to the recent saga around 'Coyote v. Acme' — which was shelved and then, at least for a while, talked about like it might actually get released — as the kind of zigzag that gives him hope. He said he will be first in line if that one hits theaters, and added that if enough people want Batgirl, it could happen. Hollywood can be weird like that.

Quick refresher: why WB killed it in 2022

Batgirl had already been filmed when Warner Bros. axed it as part of cost-cutting moves in 2022, a choice that fans widely blasted as ridiculous. In 2023, DC executive Peter Safran tried to explain the decision, saying the cut was about quality control — in his view, releasing it would have hurt DC overall. Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah later described the whole thing as a brutal experience to live through.

How finished was it, actually?

Earlier this year, art department assistant Annie Mitchell said the movie was basically done — VFX and editorial work included. She even half-joked that if nothing else, maybe someone will leak it a decade from now. The point is, this was not some half-assembled rough cut; by multiple accounts, it was close to the finish line, which is why people like Scipio keep saying there is still a chance if the demand is loud enough.

What the movie was

Leslie Grace led the film as Barbara Gordon — Gotham City vigilante by night, daughter of police commissioner James Gordon by day — trying to juggle both lives. The cast was stacked:

• Leslie Grace as Batgirl/Barbara Gordon
• J. K. Simmons as James Gordon
• Brendan Fraser
• Michael Keaton
• Ivory Aquino
• Jacob Scipio

Where things stand

Officially, Batgirl is still in the vault. Unofficially, momentum swings in this town all the time. If a nearly finished film like this can be shelved, it can also get dusted off. I would not hold my breath, but as Scipio says, never say never.