Batgirl is another step closer to making her debut in the DCEU. Co-director Adil El Arbi released an image on Instagram, showing that filming on the upcoming film has begun. Arbi's image shows a clapperboard with the Batgirl logo on it, and also features a desk with a nameplate that says "Officer Barbara Gordon." Barbara Gordon is the secret identity of Batgirl (who will be played by Leslie Grace).
In the caption, Arbi wrote "Day One of Batgirl!!! Al Hamdoulillah." Arbi will be co-directing the upcoming film with Bilall Fallah. The script was written by Christina Hodson, who previously wrote the 2020 DCEU film Birds of Prey. She also wrote the script for the upcoming The Flash movie that will star Ezra Miller as The Flash/Barry Allen, as well as both Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck as their previous version of Batman. Batgirl will be the first DCEU movie that is being created for HBO Max. Warner Bros. is said to currently be using HBO Max as a place to test lesser-known DC properties.
As production has gotten closer, more news about the upcoming film has been revealed. In October, it was announced that Brendan Fraser had been cast in the film as the villain Firefly. Fraser also currently plays Cliff Steele in DC's Doom Patrol series for HBO Max. In July, it was revealed that J.K. Simmons would be reprising his role as Commissioner James Gordon in the film. Simmons previously played the role in 2017's theatrical cut of Justice League, as well as Zack Snyder's version of the film. Simmons is also well known in the Marvel Universe, playing J. Jonah Jameson in both Sam Raimi's 2002-2007 Spider-Man trilogy that starred Tobey Maguire and currently in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Tom Holland playing the wall-crawler.
No official release date has been given for Batgirl, but it is expected to be released sometime in 2022. In the meantime, fans will be able to travel to a different version of Gotham City when Matt Reeves' The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson as the Dark Knight, is released on March 4, 2022. Check out Adil El Arbi's Instagram post below.