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Warner Bros. faced controversy in summer 2022 when it axed a “Batgirl” feature film despite it being nearly finished. But Peter Safran, the new co-chairperson and CEO of DC Studios alongside James Gunn, said it was the right decision at a press event on the Warner Bros. lot on Jan. 30.

“Batgirl’s a character that inevitably we will include in our story,” he said. “On the Batgirl front, it’s not about late in the process of the film getting canceled. I saw the movie, and there are a lot of incredibly talented people in front of and behind the camera on that film. But that film was not releasable, and it happens sometimes. That film was not releasable. I actually think that [president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery David] Zaslav and the team made a very bold and courageous decision to cancel it because it would have hurt DC. It would have hurt those people involved.”

“I think that they really stood up to support DC,” he continued. “The characters, the story, the quality of all of that. I spoke to Adil [El Arbi] and Bilall [Fallah] — the directors — last week, we were chatting. We’d love to be in business with all those folks. Christina Hodson wrote it. Some people are already back in business with us. As I said, a lot of talented people were involved, but the film just was not releasable. It would not have been able to compete in the theatrical marketplace; it was built for the small screen. So, again, I think it was not an easy decision, but they made the right decision by shelving it.”

Safran and Gunn discussed many of DC Studios’ upcoming projects at the press event, including future films, television series and animated ventures.

Reporting by Adam B. Vary