Marvel kills season 2 — now a Wonder Man star heads to James Gunn’s DCU
James Gunn’s upcoming DCU has snapped up a Wonder Man star to join returning Superman stars — just a month after the Disney+ MCU series was cancelled.
So, here’s one for the crossover crowd: Arian Moayed, who only just lost his gig at Marvel as Agent Cleary in the canned-for-good Disney+ Wonder Man series, has already landed on his feet in James Gunn’s ever-expanding DC universe – and it’s a pretty odd little corner he’s wandered into.
The new DC mockumentary series The People v. Gorilla Grodd is already set for an eight-episode run on HBO Max.
Cast shake-up: Marvel out, DC in
If you’ve been watching Moayed in Succession, or caught his guest turns on things like Ms. Marvel and Inventing Anna, you’ll appreciate the busy schedule. Now he’s set to join The People v. Gorilla Grodd, a just-announced mockumentary about, yes, the psychic gorilla supervillain you remember from comics or cartoons, if you’re that way inclined. This comes not long after Marvel quietly scrapped the Wonder Man series before it ever saw a second season, so no time wasted, really.
Gunn isn’t exactly known for playing things safe, and he’s roped in a bunch of names from his Superman film due next year. Jimmy Tatro leads the cast as Gorilla Grodd himself, while Skyler Gisondo pops in as Jimmy Olsen (carrying on from Superman), joined by Beck Bennett (Steve Lombard), Mikaela Hoover (Cat Grant), and Wendell Pierce (Perry White). New faces joining Moayed are Mary Holland, Eduardo Franco, Andrew Leeds, Tim Baltz, and Dan Perrault.
Plot and production: not your standard DC
If you’re after the standard superhero punch-up, you won’t find it here. The set-up is that Grodd – a genius-level gorilla (exposed to some kind of meteorite, as per his comics origins) – is in the dock for murder. Not just any murder, mind: he’s convicted of killing his own father, King of Gorilla City. Jimmy Olsen, ever the nosey newshound, decides he doesn’t buy it and starts an investigation to clear Gorilla Grodd’s name. Very true-crime, very tongue-in-cheek.
The series is being put together by Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault, who are writing, running the show, and popping up as executive producers. Yacenda will be directing the whole lot, and Perrault’s also acting in it. James Gunn and Peter Safran – yes, the same pair steering the whole DC ship right now – are also listed as executive producers, because of course they are. DC Studios and Warner Bros. Television are doing the heavy lifting in production.