James Gunn says replacing Henry Cavill in 'Superman' was 'unfair'

Following the success of Superman, director James Gunn opened up on how he convinced Henry Cavill to sit out from the Superman film franchise ahead of casting David Corenswet in the latest DC Studios' superhero project.

During a recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Superman director explained that as his deal to take over DC Studios was finalised, it was announced that Cavill would reprise his role as the Man of Steel.

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However, according to Gunn, it was already decided that he would helm a new Superman film with a new actor, which created an "unfair" situation for Cavill.

"The day our [DC] deal closed, all of a sudden, they were announcing that Henry was back. And I'm like, 'What is going on?' We know what the plan is. The plan was to come in and do Superman. So it was really unfair to him and a total bummer," Gunn was quoted as saying by Variety.

Gunn added that the miscommunication was due to a sector of the studio trying to "force" their own vision of DC, which was "never part of the equation". To solve the misunderstanding, the director decided to disclose the truth to Cavill.

"So, that was really unfortunate. Peter and I [thought] the right thing to do was to sit down with [Cavill] and talk to him. And we sat down and we talked to him. He was an absolute gentleman, a great guy about it," Gunn was quoted as saying by Variety. "'The only thing I ask is that I'm able to reveal it myself as opposed to it coming from you guys.'"

Gunn also hinted at the possibility of casting Cavill in future DCU movies.

While Cavill starred as the Man of Steel across three DC films from 2013 to 2017, Corenswet took over the role for Gunn's DCU debut feature Superman, which released July 11.

Other cast members for that film include Nicholas Hoult (Lex Luthor), Rachel Brosnahan (Lois Lane), Skyler Gisondo (Jimmy Olsen), Anthony Carrigan (Metamorpho), Edi Gathegi (Mister Terrific), Nathan Fillion (Guy Gardner) and Isabela Merced (Hawkgirl).