Since finalizing his production deal with Warner Bros., J.J. Abrams has hit the ground running. Today Variety reported yet another Warner Bros. project from Abrams—Madame X a scripted drama featuring featuring the DC Comics character Madame Xanadu to be written and executive produced by Angela Robinson.
This comes on the heels of other recently announced DC Comics projects from Abrams such as a Zatanna film penned by Emerald Fennell as well as a Superman reboot scripted by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
An admittedly lesser known character among the general public, Madame Xanadu debuted in Doorway to Nightmare #1 as part of DC “Mystery” line of titles that were a precursor to DC’s eventual Vertigo comic imprint. The character even headlined her own ongoing series for a time. Madame Xanadu has appeared briefly in other media outside of comics including the Young Justice episode “Denial” voiced by Cree Summer and in the short-lived Swamp Thing series portrayed by actress Jeryl Prescott.
As reported last year, Abrams is supposedly also developing a Justice League Dark series of films and TV shows. It’s a very real possibility then that the Zatanna film as well as the Madame Xanadu series are meant to set up an eventual Justice League Dark team-up film à la the Marvel Cinematic Universe. One also wonders if the success of the MCU’s WandaVision and the popularity of Elizabeth Olsen‘s Scarlet Witch may have helped open the door for the project.
As noted by Variety, like Abrams Robinson has quite a few projects her plate.
Robinson has a busy plate. She signed an overall deal with Warner Bros. Television Group in March; she’s working with cartoonist and author Terry Moore on adapting his LGBTQ graphic novel “Strangers in Paradise” as a feature film; and she’s directing a remake of the 1983 cult classic “The Hunger” for Warner Bros.
