James Gunn Recalls Henry Cavill’s Reaction To ‘Superman’ Re-Casting

As David Corenswet takes on the red cape for James Gunn‘s Superman, DCU fans could still see Henry Cavill return in another role.

The DC Studios boss recently said he “would love” to cast Cavill in his DCU as he recounted how he and co-chair Peter Safran broke the news to the “absolute gentleman” of an actor that he would no longer be playing Clark Kent in the franchise.

“It’s terrible. Believe it or not, the day we were dealing with trying to figure out if we could take the job at DC Studios,” recalled Gunn on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “The day the deal closed, all of a sudden, they were announcing that Henry was back. And I was like, ‘What is going on? We know what the plan is. The plan was to come in and do Superman.’ It was really unfair to him and a total bummer.”

When he and Safran were tapped to co-head DC Studios in 2022, Gunn said, “There was a vacuum at the time and a lot of people were… They had a take on what they wanted to do at DC and they were trying to force their way and it was just never part of the equation for [WBD CEO] David Zaslav. We came in, and that was really unfortunate. I’m like, ‘This poor guy.’”

Gunn and Safran then “sat down” with Cavill to break the news. “He was an absolute gentleman and a great guy about it,” recalled Gunn. “He said, ‘The only thing I ask is that I’m able to reveal it myself as opposed to coming from you guys.’ And I’m like, ‘That’s a class act.’”

And although Corenswet has taken over as the Man of Steel, Cavill could still pop up in the new DCU. “I talked to him about it on that day. I would love to put Henry in something,” said Gunn.

Since taking over DC Studios with Safran, Superman marks the first entry in his new DCU franchise, which begins with the ‘Gods and Monsters’ phase.