J.K. Simmons recalls the canceled ‘Batgirl’: “It was an exciting prospect”

Although the new DC cinematic universe led by James Gunn is already on its second film, memories of the previous universe launched by Zack Snyder still linger. That universe introduced us to some actors whose appearances were so brief they felt more like cameos, and one of them was J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon. Although the actor only appeared in ‘Justice League’, he also filmed scenes for another movie, ‘Bargirl’, which, unfortunately—and despite having been fully shot—was canceled.

Simmons recently spoke about this on the podcast ‘Happy, Sad, Confused’, where he reflected on his time playing the character and his appearance in ‘Batgirl’. “We really had a good time making it and, you know, thought it was going to be a fun superhero movie,” he said. “It’s bizarre. Apparently, one test audience saw it, and, you know, it wasn’t like it got a bad score from the test audience. It was just a business decision, obviously. [...] When Batgirl came along, it was an exciting prospect to be part of Batgirl’s origin story.”

The surprising cancellation of a fully shot superhero movie

‘Batgirl’ was canceled in August 2022, in a twist that surprised the industry. The film, starring Leslie Grace as Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl, ended up being scrapped by Warner Bros. in favor of a tax write-off, meaning that the film can never be released.

In the film, Batgirl was going to face the pyromaniac Firefly, one of the great villains of the DC factory, who was going to be played by Brendan Fraser (The Mummy, George of the Jungle). The presence of Keaton’s Batman was also confirmed, who later would appear in 'The Flash’ movie, and with that, finishing the “Snyderverse.”

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It’s worth noting that Simmons was also set to reprise his role as James Gordon in Ben Affleck’s ‘Batman’, which Affleck originally planned to star in but eventually stepped away from—first as the lead actor and later as the director. This paved the way for the film directed by Matt Reeves and starring Robert Pattinson, in which Gordon ended up being played by Jeffrey Wright.

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