Jurnee Smollett is keeping our “Black Canary” solo film hopes alive. She played the classic DC Comics hero in “Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)” back in 2020. While the film only did OK with audiences and critics, Smolllett’s performance as Dinah Lance aka Black Canary stood out. Not long after the movie’s release, Warner Bros. Pictures announced a Canary solo film would be coming to HBO Max.
The film is being developed by both Smollett and Misha Green, who worked together on “Lovecraft Country,” also also at HBO Max. But since that initial announcement, things have been fairly quiet. Just last month, Green posted an update, revealing that a script is still in progress.
Smollett is promoting her new film “Spiderhead” for Netflix, and confirmed things are still happening. She keeps things fairly vague, since nothing is set in stone yet. While speaking with ComicBook, she did share she “feel[s] like we’ve only touched the surface with Black Canary. And she’s one of the dopest martial artists in the DC Universe.” She also hinted Green’s script is extremely ambitious. Anyone who watched “Lovecraft Country” knows that Green can create something truly audacious.
Hopefully that energy will translate to a film that does justice to Dinah Lance. Black Canary is one of the oldest continuous characters in the DC Comics universe. Ever since her original debut all the way back in 1947 as Dinah Drake, she has had a wild history. As a martial arts master, superspy, metahuman, and occasional Justice League member, she has done it all. Modernizing that take with what they did in “Birds of Prey” has the makings of something truly original. Hopefully we will see it soon.
We’ll let you know what we hear about this and other news.
