James Gunn and Peter Safran are leaving their leadership positions at DC Studios, bringing an unexpected end to the duo’s four-year effort to rebuild DC’s film, television, and animation strategy. The move comes shortly after Skydance completed its takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, and the executives’ departure is reportedly tied to tensions with Skydance leadership.
Skydance’s official announcement frames the change as a transition rather than a collapse. Gunn and Safran will step away from their posts and return to their creative work, while Jeremy Latcham becomes president and chief creative officer of DC Studios on December 1, 2026. Latcham is a longtime Marvel Studios executive whose producing credits include major entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, making his appointment an especially pointed choice for a company competing directly with Marvel.
The reshuffle is notable because Gunn and Safran had recently been positioned as part of David Ellison’s broader leadership structure following the Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition. Their exit therefore appears to reflect more than an ordinary change in day-to-day management. Additional coverage has described disagreements with Skydance executives and concerns surrounding the direction and performance of DC’s slate, although the companies have not publicly detailed the alleged disputes.
Gunn and Safran took charge of DC Studios in late 2022 with a mandate to bring a unified vision to characters that had previously been managed across separate film and television divisions. Their tenure produced Superman, continued the Peacemaker television storyline, and established a new shared continuity intended to connect movies, series, animation, and other DC projects more deliberately.
Skydance’s decision places that strategy in the hands of an executive with deep experience inside Marvel’s interconnected production system. Latcham will inherit a studio whose future projects include continuing DC’s theatrical plans alongside television and animation, but his arrival could still lead to changes in priorities, scheduling, or the degree to which separate projects are expected to fit into one overarching universe. Skydance said Gunn and Safran leave after helping reset DC Studios’ foundation.
For fans, the immediate question is whether Gunn’s creative projects will continue unchanged while he returns to filmmaking full time. His departure from management does not automatically mean an end to his relationship with DC, but a new executive structure could affect long-term plans, including the shape of future Superman stories and the balance between Gunn’s personal creative priorities and Skydance’s corporate strategy. The next phase of DC will begin with Latcham in charge—and with the studio once again asking audiences to trust a new direction.
