Leslie Grace Will Play DC’s New ‘Batgirl’

Just a few days after it was reported that Warner Bros. was testing finalists for the title role in the upcoming Batgirl movie, the studio has apparently made its final choice. In the Heights star Leslie Grace is the movies’ new Barbara Gordon.

Here’s more, via Deadline:

The studio was already super high on the rising star following her breakout role in In the Heights, and sources say her audition sealed the deal as the choice. The studio had no comment.

The other actresses who were cited as testing for the part of Batgirl were Zoey Deutch, Isabela Merced, and Haley Lu Richardson. This film is expected to premiere on Warners’ HBO Max streaming service instead of playing in movie theaters.

A Batgirl movie has been in development at Warner Bros. since at least 2017, when Joss Whedon was announced to write and direct the film. Around the same time that DC brought Whedon in for that project, they recruited him to finish Justice League after Zack Snyder left the film midway through production. We all know how that turned out — and maybe not too surprisingly, Whedon’s Batgirl slowly faded into oblivion after that. Batgirl has previously appeared in Batman & Robin (played by Alicia Silverstone) and The LEGO Batman Movie (voiced by Rosario Dawson).

News of another iteration of the project began picking up steam this spring, with the announcement that Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah of Bad Boys For Life would direct. Now they have found their Batgirl. The film does not have a release date.