DC's Zatanna Movie To Be Written By Promising Young Woman Director Emerald Fennell

Promising Young Woman writer/director Emerald Fennell has been hired to write a movie based on the DC superhero Zatanna. The news comes via Variety.

The Zatanna movie is being developed at Warner Bros. by J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Productions. There's no word on whether Fennell will direct the movie too, but it's possible if the film is greenlit. The dark drama Promising Young Woman stars Carey Mulligan, and has been nominated for five Oscars, including best director and best original screenplay for Fennell.

Zatanna first appeared in DC comic books in 1964, and is a powerful sorceress. She is known as a member of the supernatural superhero team Justice League Dark alongside John Constantine. Zatanna previously appeared in the DC live-action show Smallville, played by Serinda Swan, and has also featured numerous animated DC shows and movies.

The news of the Zatanna movie follows reports last year that Bad Robot had signed a deal to develop ideas for potential movies and shows based on Justice League Dark. A film based on the team has been in development for many years at DC, with Guillermo Del Toro and George Miller among the directors attached at different stages. An animated Justice League Dark film was released in 2017.

In February it was also reported that Bad Robot is developing a new Constantine show for HBO Max. The series will reportedly focus on a younger version of John Constantine than the one in the recent CW series, which lasted one season in 2018.