J.K. Simmons is officially coming back to the DCEU. After briefly playing Commissioner Jim Gordon in Justice League, Simmons will be returning for the Batgirl film. Recently, it was announced that Leslie Grace would be taking on the main role of Batgirl/Barbara Gordon, the daughter of Jim Gordon. This report came from Deadline who also reported that Jacob Scipio is going to have a role in the Batgirl movie.
This casting confirms that Batgirl will take place in the DCEU where Ben Affleck is Bruce Wayne/Batman and not Robert Pattinson. The Batman is taking place in a separate universe and it was unclear whether Batgirl would be in the main DCEU or in the alternative Matt Reeves’ Batman universe. Simmons briefly appeared as Jim Gordon but he was supposed to have a much larger role in Affleck’s solo Batman film, however, that project was scrapped. Now, with the character of Batgirl being his daughter, Simmons may have a large role as Commissioner Gordon in this upcoming film.
Grace has shared her excitement for the role and spoke to Variety about what it means to be playing this character, saying that this “validates the dreams of other people who look like me, who may feel it’s not an opportunity for them.”
“I’m just really excited about every young girl who is going to see a Dominican Batichica and say, ‘I can do that,’” Grace said. “I can’t wait.”
Scipio’s role at the moment is unknown. Scipio is coming off of a blockbuster role where he played the main antagonist in Bad Boys For Life. Scipio will once again be working with Bad Boys For Life directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, who are helming Batgirl. Scipio’s upcoming work also includes The Expendables 4 where he will be playing Antonio Banderas’ son.
There is no expected release date for Batgirl yet but it will drop exclusively on HBO Max, becoming one of the first massive DC projects to premiere on the service without a theatrical run.