Superman Legacy Casts David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan

After months of casting reports and rumours, writer-director James Gunn has finally chosen his Superman and Lois for his next feature, Superman: Legacy.

David Corenswet will take on the role of Superman/Clark Kent. Corenswet recently starred opposite Mia Goth in the critically acclaimed Pearl, and played the lead role in Ryan Murphy’s miniseries, ‘Hollywood’. Corenswet will replace Henry Cavill, who portrayed the iconic character for close to a decade, starting with Man of Steel in 2013.

Rachel Brosnahan has been cast as Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane. She is perhaps best known for her leading role in the Amazon Prime series ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’. Her performance as the titular Mrs. Maisel was unanimously praised, garnering her an Emmy and two Golden Globes. Prior to this, Brosnahan appeared on ‘House of Cards’, which Corenswet also appeared in briefly, though the two did not share a scene. Brosnahan follows in a lineage of big and small screen Lois Lanes that includes Margot Kidder, Teri Hatcher, Kate Bosworth and most recently Amy Adams.

Reports indicate that final auditions took place over the weekend with stars such as ‘Sex Education’ lead Emma Mackey and Mad Max scene-stealer Nicholas Hoult also in the running. The latter also narrowly missed out on playing Batman in Matt Reeves‘ recent take on the caped crusader. While losing out on two huge roles like this will likely be frustrating for Hoult, an earlier report suggests he has also been testing for Superman’s arch nemesis Lex Luthor.

This news comes almost exactly a decade after Henry Cavill and Amy Adams made their comic book movie debuts in Man of Steel (June 2013). Each appeared in multiple DC projects over the last decade, in a shared universe that is due to end with the release of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom in December. After a series of critical and commercial failures for Warnes Bros., new DC Films figureheads James Gunn and Peter Safran will helm the rebooted cinematic universe. Gunn, who was responsible for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy franchise under the Disney banner, has spoken publicly about his desire to ‘focus on an earlier part of Superman’s life’ than the one Henry Cavill was portraying by the end of his run.

Superman: Legacy will be released on 11th July 2025. Gunn and Safran have stated that the film will follow a young Clark Kent during his early days at the Daily Planet. The film will follow him balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his life on Earth. Gunn is directing based on a screenplay he has written himself.

Follow @thefilmagazine on Twitter for daily news updates.