12 SHARES Facebook Twitter

It was just over a month ago when word first surfaced that the script for “The Batman” by Ben Affleck and Geoff Johns might be getting a rewrite by Chris Terrio. That chatter was swiftly rebutted with reports that everything was totally fine, and that everyone was happy with the screenplay as is. But then Matt Reeves signed on to direct, and Warner Bros.‘ press release curiously omitted any mention of who was writing the screenplay for the movie, and perhaps we now know why.

READ MORE: How Warner Bros. Turned The DC Movie Universe Into A Franchise Problem Child

Slashfilm is reporting that “The Batman” is “being rewritten from the ground up.” But this shouldn’t be a surprise. It’s completely common for directors, especially when taking on blockbuster projects, to want to put their own take on the material. In fact, when Reeves signed up to helm “Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes,” he tossed out the screenplay the studio had from Scott Z. Burns, and when Jordan Vogt-Roberts met with Warner Bros. for “Kong: Skull Island,” he rejected the treatment they had, and instead pitched his own version, which they agreed to let him make. Again, if this is true, it’s all par for the course, and with filming not expected to begin until 2018, there’s a whole heap of time to get a new script in shape.

So it would seem everything that was known, or at least rumored, about the script is now off the table — multiple villains! Deathstroke! — as Reeves and/or whoever steps in to pen the script figures out what the story will be.

There’s no release date for “The Batman,” but 2019 seems like the earliest possible time it’ll hit cinemas.