Superman Legacy: Siblings Alexander and Bill Skarsgård Reportedly Competing to Play Lex Luthor

The report claims that Nicholas Hoult also originally tried for the villain Lex Luthor’s part, before eventually auditioning for Superman/ Clark Kent.

Written by Rahul Chettiyar, Edited by Ali Pardiwala | Updated: 27 June 2023 13:28 IST

Superman Legacy: Siblings Alexander and Bill Skarsgård Reportedly Competing to Play Lex Luthor

Photo Credit: Universal Pictures; Netflix

Alexander Skarsgård in The Northman; Bill Skarsgård in The Devil All The Time

Highlights

Superman: Legacy releases July 11, 2025
Neither Alexander nor Bill Skarsgård has worked with James Gunn before
James Gunn conducted screen tests for Superman: Legacy with 3 pairings

James Gunn is reportedly pitting the Skarsgård brothers against each other to portray the villain Lex Luthor in his upcoming film, Superman: Legacy. As per The Hollywood Reporter's sources, siblings Alexander and Bill Skarsgård are in competition for the role, though I personally feel like you'd get wildly different performances from them. Maybe DC Studios is still deciding on what tone to go for, as it charts its ambitious top-down reboot of the franchise, which would connect all DC Comics movies, TV series, and animated series under an overarching arc. The film will focus on the younger days of the Kryptonian superhero, and is being written and directed by Gunn himself — slated to release July 11, 2025.

Both Alexander and Bill Skarsgård have had experiences playing antagonists, with the former appearing as the abusive husband Perry Wright in HBO's Big Little Lies, while Bill portrayed the killer clown Pennywise in the It movies. The latter is comically more dramatic, which would suit well with comic supervillains — but the character of Lex Luthor is that of a CEO and business mogul who also happens to be a genius. Coincidentally, Alexander did play a CEO recently, seeking to buy media conglomerate Waystar-Royco in the fourth and final season of Succession, which also fits quite perfectly with Luthor's personality.

At the same time, Gunn seems to have taken a liking to The Flash's director Andy Muschietti — even hiring him to direct Batman: The Brave and the Bold — who helmed the It movies with Bill Skarsgård. Since DC films will soon form a new interconnected universe, I could see Muschietti being involved in some creative decision-making processes. See where I'm going with this? It's an endless cycle that could've been resolved if both actors were fused into one.

The report also mentions that in the early stages, Nicholas Hoult (The Menu) tried for Luthor's part, before moving on to screen test for Superman/ Clark Kent. It's unclear whether he will put himself in the running again, in the event that he fails to earn the protagonist's role. With The Flash coming out as a box office bomb, all eyes are now on Gunn's Superman: Legacy, the inaugural movie for the revamped DC Universe.

The director held screen tests to pick the right pairing of Lois Lane and Clark Kent, early last week, assembling three actors and three actresses for the part. They were paired as follows: Hoult and Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel); Tom Brittney (Invasion) and Phoebe Dynevor (Bridgerton); and David Corenswet (Pearl) and Emma Mackey (Sex Education). Tests were conducted on two separate days — day one with normal Daily Planet attire and day two with Superman's suit. Interestingly, the report notes that only Mackey was invited on the second day.

Gunn is essentially taking a back-to-basics approach with Superman: Legacy, showing a version far different from Zack Snyder's grittier version, embodying a traditional Kansas farmboy and a hero that everyone can look up to. The filmmaker hopes to start rolling cameras in early 2024, which should happen as scheduled since Gunn turned over the script before the writers' strike began. The film will kickstart the new chapter in the larger DCU, titled ‘Gods and Monsters,' an entire release slate that Gunn and co-chair Peter Safran revealed, earlier this year.

Superman: Legacy is slated to release July 11, 2025.

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