In the era of the internet and cancel culture, Hollywood celebrities have to be more careful about what they do and say off screen just as much as they do when they are acting on camera. Ezra Miller may be seeing this trend firsthand, because the Fantastic Beasts franchise actor and lead in DC’s upcoming The Flash film has landed themself in some legal troubles recently. After Miller was arrested for the second time in Hawaii, what could this mean for the future of their career with Warner Brothers.?
Although Warner Bros. has yet to make a statement concerning Ezra Miller’s latest arrest, it’s possible that the arrests won’t affect the Fantastic Beasts franchise or The Flash film. And Deadline has heard through the grapevine that the film production and distribution company “haven’t been sweating” the legal troubles and bad press that Miller has been receiving.
The reason for this lack of concern may largely be due to the fact that Ezra Miller isn’t currently being cast in any of their films. Miller has appeared in all three of the Fantastic Beasts films, but is not technically committed to any future films in the franchise.
While 2022’s new release film Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore opened over the weekend and had a sense of finality to it, universe creator J.K. Rowling has previously said the franchise is a five film series. While we may see two more films, Miller could easily not appear in them.
As for Warner Bros.' The Flash, the film is already finished with filming. Ezra Miller has been cast as Barry Allen/The Flash for a while now, first appearing as the superhero in 2016's Batman v Superman and reappearing in both versions of Justice League (plus a recent cameo in Peacemaker). The Flash isn’t set to actually release until well into next year, giving this bad press plenty of time to die down. Currently, there are no plans to reschedule the film, or pull it from theaters in favor of an exclusive streaming run on HBO Max.
Of course, that is considering Ezra Miller’s encounters with police come to an end. The actor has been in legal trouble before, not even considering their arrest a few weeks prior to this more recent assault charge. The star also has a restraining order against them by a couple Miller was allegedly harassing (they've since dropped the order.) And there have also been claims that Miller has had notable meltdowns on the set of DC’s The Flash.
Although Warner Bros. doesn’t seem concerned about Ezra Miller’s appearance in the already released third Fantastic Beasts film of the already completed The Flash, the film company also has not cast Miller in any new projects. There are, of course, a lot of factors to think about, as Miller’s arrests are pretty recent. The Flash is set to release to theaters on June 23rd in 2023, and we may just have to see how Miller is received or if they end up canceled.
