Jurnee Smollett’s ‘Black Canary’ Spinoff of ‘Birds of Prey’ Still in Development

The Birds of Prey spinoff movie Black Canary, starring Jurnee Smollett as the titular heroine, is moving forward with HBO Max despite the multiple projects that have been canned by Warner Bros. Discovery.

A spokesperson for Warner Bros. Pictures confirmed to TVLine that the Black Canary standalone movie remains in development. Following the release of Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) in 2020, there was a desire to see the characters return in a more comic book-accurate lineup that wouldn’t need Harley to sell the movie. Black Canary, in many ways, was the obvious choice, since the character has appeared in several live-action and animated series, from Smallville to Young Justice.

As one of DC’s oldest superheroines, Canary has been an important part of the Justice League in both incarnations—first as Dinah Drake and then Dinah Lance, the daughter of the former. While the former was just an amazing martial artist, Dinah Lance is the one who gained the supersonic scream, taking her abilities to another level. She’s best friends with Barbara Gordon, who she co-leads the Birds of Prey with, and has been the long-term love interest of Oliver Queen, a.k.a. The Green Arrow, for decades (despite what The CW’s Arrow would have you think).

There were some complaints (valid ones) that having Harley as the face of the Birds of Prey film was frustrating since it meant a lot of characters got smaller storylines. Despite that, I felt each actor got a chance to show some layers to themselves, and I have found it to be one of the best DCEU films to date.

Black Canary is one of my favorite comic book characters, and after the disrespect shown to Laurel Lance on Arrow, seeing Smollett as Dinah Laurel Lance was amazing. I only want like 1000% more ultrasonic screaming. Since Misha Green (Lovecraft Country) is penning the script, I am sure she will make sure Smollett kills it.

I’m excited to see where this film goes and how it puts some respect on the character’s name. So far, we have no idea where this fits into the ten-year plan that DC is trying to implement, but since they just got rid of Batgirl, hopefully they will find a new way to implement the friendship between the two.

(via TV Line, featured image: Warner Bros.)