Overview
- On Thursday, July 9, 2026, Simmons told the Happy Sad Confused podcast he never saw the finished Batgirl and described the studio’s choice as "bizarre," adding that only one test audience reportedly viewed the film.
- Batgirl was fully filmed and entered post-production before Warner Bros. Discovery shelved it in 2022 and took a roughly $90 million tax write-off rather than releasing it on HBO Max.
- Studio leaders later shifted DC strategy and, after James Gunn and Peter Safran took charge, Safran publicly called the movie "not releasable," without providing specific creative or technical reasons.
- Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah and cast members including Leslie Grace and Michael Keaton have said they were shocked and disappointed, leaving many crew and actors without the public results of their work.
- The film remains unreleased with no public plan for distribution, and the episode has kept attention on WBD’s cost-cutting moves and its handling of finished projects, which could affect talent relations and future release decisions.