Warner Bros. has decided to put on ice two anticipated DC projects — Aquaman’s horror spinoff The Trench and New Gods film about godlike superhumans from Fourth World, Darkseid including. Projects may be revived later, but they are no longer developing now.
DC Extended Universe without a doubt has its ups and downs. One day you made Suicide Squad, the other day you made... another Suicide Squad. One day you released Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the other day you put on ice several upcoming projects. And it concerns not only Justice League’s four planned sequels but unexpected movies as well.
Warner Bros. Pictures and DC Films announced they would not start the full production on either New Gods or the horror film The Trench, which were supposed to be the part of the DCEU. The studios did not give specific reasons on the subject, only thanking everyone who worked on the projects, Deadline reported.
Ava DuVernay, known for A Wrinkle in Time and Selma, was attached to direct New Gods. She worked with screenwriter Tom King on the project’s story featuring uber-villain Darkseid from Snyder’s Justice League. Deadline’s sources said the project was abandoned due to it being "not suitable for a single film because of the story’s structure."
The Trench is an Aquaman spinoff about the fallen tribe of Atlantis, relegated to living in the depths of the Ocean and evolved accordingly. They briefly appeared in the 2018 film with Jason Momoa, but it’s unclear what a separate story was going to be about. The movie was produced by James Wan, the director of the original Aquaman, as well as Saw, The Conjuring, and Insidious.
According to what we know, the film was abandoned due to Wan’s busy schedule, as he is occupied on several films production at once. Wan is directing the upcoming horror Malignant and DC’s Aquaman 2. As previously mentioned by actor Dolph Lundgren, the Aquaman sequel was scheduled to begin filming in Summer 2021.
Warner Bros. noted that if New Gods and The Trench are revived, the projects will remain in the hands of the same people who worked on them before.
Source: Deadline