There’s a new face stepping into the DC live-action universe.
On Tuesday, it was announced that relative newcomer Tom Rhys Harries has scored the title role in the upcoming Clayface film from DC Studios. James Gunn, who heads DC Studios with Peter Safran, shared the news with his 1.7 million followers on X, writing, “After a long and incredibly exhaustive search, we finally have our DCU Clayface in Tom Rhys Harries.”
“Both Matt Reeves and I were just blown away by this guy, and can’t wait for you to see this film,” Gunn added.
Reeves, who directed 2022’s Robert Pattinson-led The Batman, is producing the film that will be directed by James Watkin and written by horror maestro Mike Flanagan. The film follows a B-movie actor who drinks a substance that’s supposed to help his career and instead leaves him made entirely of clay.
Alan Tudyk currently voices the character in a more comedic capacity for the animated Harley Quinn series. Reeves also utilized a character with a familiar-sounding name, Eve Karlo, played by Carmen Ejogo, in his HBO series The Penguin.
Harries is an an up-and-coming Welsh actor who made appearances on the Apple TV series Suspicion alongside Uma Thurman, and movies such as Uberto Pasolini’s The Return, the Gerard Butler action title Kandahar, and Guy Ritchie’s The Gentleman.
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According to Deadline, Harries beat out a star-studded list of British actors for the Clayface role, including 28 Years Later‘s Jack O’Connell, Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes‘ Tom Blyth, The White Lotus‘ Leo Woodall, and 1917‘s George MacKay.
Flanagan has been chomping at the bit to write a Clayface story for years. He previously mentioned the desire back in 2021 in a since-deleted tweet, in which he wrote that he would approach such a movie as a “horror/thriller/tragedy.” While appearing on the Script Apart podcast in 2023, the filmmaker mentioned that he met with producer Jon Berg for a general meeting at DC Studios and expressed his interest in a “horror-leaning” take on the character.
When Gunn announced that Flanagan was writing a film based on the classic Batman villain in December 2024, he confirmed Clayface will be “a DCU story,” meaning the characters will exist in the same universe as Creature Commandos, Superman and Peacemaker season 2, and the like.
It’ll be interesting to see how Clayface fits in the same universe as DC Studios’ hefty first slate of movies and shows, all packaged together as a Phase 1 of the new DC universe, dubbed “Gods and Monsters.” The titles include a Supergirl film, a sequel to The Batman, a Wonder Woman-based HBO Max series, and many more.
The most prominent release of Phase 1 might be Gunn’s upcoming Superman film, which sees David Corenswet make his debut as the titular hero.
The film sees Corenswet’s Superman embark on a journey to reconcile his Kyrptonian heritage with his human upbringing. Gunn previously told Entertainment Weekly that the film is an original story, though he did look to Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s All-Star Superman for inspiration. The film will also center Superman’s relationship with girlfriend Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan).
“We have robots and monster babies and giant kaiju and all of that stuff,” Gunn shared. “But that is also grounded around these incredibly real relationships with a couple that has started dating a few months ago, and now they’re really learning the ins and outs of each other.”
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Gunn also teased that the idea of a larger superhero team-up a la Justice League is on his mind. “Of course, of course,” he told EW. “But there is no Justice League in this world…not yet.”
When asked if his Justice League plans tie into his larger vision for the Gods and Monsters phase, he playfully answered, “Sure.”
DC Studios/ Warner Bros.
In the world of Superman, there’s definitely the presence of a Justice Gang, which is a trio of superheroes backed by Maxwell Lord (Sean Gunn) of tech company LordTech. The team is comprised of the winged, mace-wielding warrior Hawkgirl/Kendra Saunders (Isabela Merced); a brash bowl cut-sporting Green Lantern named Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion); and Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi), whose genius-level intellect led to the creation of his T-spheres, mechanical floating orbs that respond to his vocal commands for a variety of effects.
Unlike, say, a Justice League, the Justice Gang is “good” but “not saintly,” Gunn explained.
EW also broached the Justice League subject with Corenswet in a separate conversation, citing Gunn’s responses.
“I mean, that sounds awesome,” he responded. “I don’t take it upon myself to think ahead in that kind of way, just because one would hate to get one’s hopes up about anything in particular and then have it go in another direction. What I like to do is stay blissfully ignorant, and then when James tells me what’s going to happen, I get to have a wonderful surprise. So if Justice League is in the back of his mind, that sounds great to me. I’ll put it at the back of my mind and we’ll see what happens.”
Superman flies into theaters on July 11.