It was a shocker to many DC fans when Warner Bros. issued a statement about Batgirl’s cancellation four months away from release. So, you can only imagine the disappointment the superhero film's star Leslie Grace felt when she received the news. As Grace begins to share how she’s been feeling lately about the canceled DC film, she also opens up about her hopes for the future.
It’s a shame that Batgirl was one of the properties negatively impacted by the HBO Max and Discovery+ merge. It meant that we would never get to see all of the hard work Leslie Grace and her co-star Brendan Fraser put into their roles as Batgirl and her nemesis Firefly. In an interview with Collider, the In the Heights actress spoke about the cancellation, and how she wished people could have seen the dynamic she had with Fraser as she was beating him up (but hugging him in between takes).
So I would’ve loved people to see those moments, but you know what? You have the experience, and you keep on rolling, and I feel so blessed, all in all, that I have those memories and hopefully maybe in some future, some clips will arise and people will get to enjoy a little bit of it. But for now, we’ll just have to keep it going as it going in comic folklore, I guess, with all of our memories and our stories while we can.
Leslie Grace surely considers herself lucky to be the actress who scored the role of Barbara Gordon, and she was able to act out kick-ass moments in the DC superhero costume. When the actress reacted to being cast as Gotham City’s vigilante, she said she was “beyond excited” and “ready to give her all I’ve got.” After she heard about Batgirl getting scrapped, she responded to Warner Bros. saying how proud she was of all of the hard work she put into the role and the lasting relationships she made on set. This makes you wish there was a documentary about the whole filmmaking experience of the upcoming superhero movie that never came.
Batgirl may not be able to fly its way into streaming and theaters, so we’ll just have to cherish the behind-the-scenes snippets Leslie Grace shared. Not only do we see this talented actress in a full cape and mask in photos, but we also got a glimpse of a fight scene and her posing with Fraser, revealing his Firefly costume. Hopefully, footage of Batgirl will not be destroyed so that way there’s proof of the hard work the cast and crew put into this superhero action flick.
Out of all of the movies Warner Bros. Discovery canceled, Batgirl will always keep DC fans wondering what could have been. We would have seen big things like seeing J.K. Simmons play Commissioner Gordon, and the father-daughter duo scenes he would have had with Grace. This movie also would have featured the debut of Barbara Gordon’s roommate, Alysia Yeoh, who would have made history as the first transgender character to appear in a DC movie. And of course, we can’t forget that Brendan Fraser was set to play the DC villain Firefly which would have been one of the many films on his comeback list that got the Brenaissance train rolling.
It was clear that Batgirl was not the movie Warner Bros. Discovery needed on their upcoming releases list. But, it didn’t mean this movie wasn’t wanted by DC fans. Maybe years from now, audiences will finally get the Batgirl movie they’ve always wanted. While that might be a long shot, one thing is for sure, we’ll always remember Leslie Grace as Batgirl.
