Alan Tudyk won’t play Clayface in the upcoming DCU movie.
It was announced last year that Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House, Doctor Sleep) was writing a Clayface movie that will be set within James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DCU.
While a number of other DCU projects were announced prior to Clayface, the pre-production process came together quickly and the movie has been given a 2026 release date. Production is expected to begin this summer and it was recently announced that Speak No Evil’s James Watkins is directing the movie.
No casting announcements for Clayface have yet been made; however, per Variety, Gunn has confirmed that Tudyk won’t be playing the titular Batman villain in the upcoming live-action movie.
Why isn’t Alan Tudyk playing Clayface in the DCU live-action movie?
Gunn previously said that actors who voice major animated characters in DCU projects will also play them in live-action. Tudyk voiced Clayface in the DCU Creature Commandos along with a handful of other characters, including Doctor Phosphorus. He also voices the character in all five seasons of the animated Harley Quinn show, which is not set within the DCU.
Gunn said that Tudyk won’t play Clayface in the live-action because it wasn’t a “primary role” for Tudyk.
Safran further described Clayface as a “body horror film,” while Gunn said they’re hoping that it “works as a pure horror movie for somebody who doesn’t care at all about DC.” The film has an estimated budget of around $40 million.
“[Clayface] is a Hollywood horror tale centering on a B-movie actor who injects himself with a substance to keep himself relevant, only to find out that he can reshape his face and form, becoming a walking piece of clay,” a description of the film’s plot, via The Hollywood Reporter, reads.
Clayface currently has a September 11, 2026, release date from Warner Bros.
Originally reported by Brandon Schreur on SuperHeroHype.
