Thanks to his role in Grey's Anatomy, Jeffrey Dean Morgan's star was on the rise in a big way in the late 2000s. Unfortunately for the actor, two major blockbuster projects, The Losers and Watchmen, underperformed both critically and commercially.
Morgan has still found plenty of success, of course, particularly in genre fare like The Walking Dead franchise (he currently headlines Dead City, alongside Lauren Cohan), Invincible, and The Boys. However, he very nearly had a much bigger role in the DC Universe, either as Lobo or the Flashpoint Batman...or potentially both.
Neither worked out through no fault of his own, and in a recent interview with Josh Horowitz, Morgan opened up about missing out on playing DC's Main Man (Jason Momoa ultimately filled the role in this summer's Supergirl).
"In fact, that was the producer, Akiva Goldsman, who did Losers, had the rights to Lobo, and so that was, yeah, that was real talk. And I wanted to do it. Fell in love. I had never heard of Lobo, and so I dove right in and was like, 'Oh yeah.' It suited my humour and my sarcasm, all that. It didn’t suit my body, but I was like, I got time. I got a year to get big."
"But it just never came to be. There was a script floating around that needed work. But, you know, that would happen. I think Warner Bros., coming off of Watchmen and Losers, wasn’t having a great time with DC. And maybe Jeffrey Dean at the same time. [Laughs] Now that I think about it, maybe we shouldn’t bet too much on this dude."
After working together on 2009's Watchmen, where Morgan played The Comedian, Snyder later enlisted him as Thomas Wayne in 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
There was immediate interest from fans in seeing Morgan play the Flashpoint Batman, something Snyder alluded to being in the works on multiple occasions. The Thomas Wayne Batman existed in at least one version of The Flash's many scripts, and remains a character with the potential to headline a solo outing.
Reflecting on that, Morgan recalled his conversations with Snyder about a potential return to the DCEU in a much bigger role.
"Zack’s like, because I remember when he called me to do the role and I was like, 'Well, it’s just, you know, it’s really nothing.' And he’s like, 'I got bigger plans.' And I was like, 'Well, Zack, what does that mean, man?' He’s like, 'Can you just trust me?' And I’m like, 'Oh, of course.' And I’m going to do it even without this incentive of there’s more. And I think we did have a conversation. We talked—I remember we started talking about Batman, him and I together on the press tour for Watchmen, and he was like, 'I would love to see you play Batman.' I was like, 'Bro, stop. Stop. I’m going to have a f***ing heart attack right now.'"
"And so I knew—I sure I knew what it, you know, we would look at each other and we—and I think at one point he like had looked over and just said 'Flashpoint.' And I was like, 'Oh, f***. God damn it.' I almost like don’t want to hear it, right? There was so much, you know, immediate fan speculation. Everybody’s so smart these days and knows that world so well. And, you know, I was so shocked that with Zack and Warner Bros., and that it didn’t work out, ’cause I mean I love his stuff and I love that he leans toward the darkness."
"Not that I don’t love Gunn, I do. I mean, I really like Gunn. I was supposed to do a movie with him as well about a serial killer. It wasn’t even a superhero film. But both guys I love. But, you know, Zack was so versed, and I mean he knew this world I thought better than anyone. It’s in his bones. He bleeds it."
It's always fun to think about what might have been, and a shame that neither Lobo nor Batman worked out for Morgan. Still, as The Walking Dead's Negan, he's found a comic book role that's put him on the map in a big way.