‘Just f***ing give ’em a break’: Zachary Levi defends James Gunn and Peter Safran amid DC shakeup

‘The amount of conjecture and rumour mill and drama and nonsense is unbelievably laughable,’ said the ‘Shazam’ star

Shazam star Zachary Levi has spoken out in defence of James Gunn and Peter Safran following major shake-ups at DC Films.

Following the appointment of Gunn and Safran as the new co-CEOs of the film studios, a number of major changes have been made.

These have included Henry Cavill no longer returning as Superman, the shelving of Wonder Woman 3 and the pushing back of Black Adam 2.

You can read about all of the changes here.

Appearing on Instagram Live on Thursday (22 December), Levi urged fans to be “patient” and give Gunn and Saffran time to get settled at DC.

“You have no idea the reasonings behind any of the decisions that are going on,” he said (via Deadline). “The amount of conjecture and rumour mill and drama and nonsense that keeps getting spun around out there on Instagram and Twitter is laughable. It is unbelievably laughable.

“I would just say be patient, and give them some space and some time to try and really make something special. And I think something that DC deserves to have, and something that [Zack] Snyder tried to do and it just didn’t ultimately materialise, guys.”

Levi said that the new co-CEOs weren’t “just making decisions because they like someone or don’t like someone”, adding: “They’re making decisions based on what is best for Warner Bros, DC, that entire studio and entity and trying to make as many fans, as much of an audience, happy as they can”.

“If you’re out there and really like what happened before, you can do that, that’s fine. But realise that there’s a lot of people who didn’t like those things, and we should always be trying to tap into as much audience as possible, make as many people happy as possible.

Gunn has faced criticism for his decisions as the new co-CEO of DC Films (Getty Images)

“That’s what I think Peter and James are trying to do. And it’s not an easy position, they got handed all these things that were already in a lot of conflict. So guys, just f***ing give ’em a break. Take it easy. Take a breath. It’s the holidays, for god’s sake.”

Last week, Levi shut down rumours that he wouldn’t be returning as Shazam after appearing in 2023’s Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

“Oooh, I really wouldn’t go believing everything you see on the internet,” he wrote. “I’m Gucci… We all Gucci.”

After the news that Cavill wouldn’t be returning as Superman was met with criticism, Gunn branded the comments “disrespectful”.

“No one loves to be harassed or called names – but, to be frank, we’ve been through significantly worse,” the Guardians of the Galaxy director wrote. “Disrespectful outcry will never, ever affect our actions.”

Read more here.