Late last year, former James Bond actor Daniel Craig was attached to star in a DC Studios film based on the World War II hero Sgt. Rock. That project would have reunited Craig with Queer director Luca Guadagnino and screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes. However, Craig has reportedly dropped out of the film and DC Studios will need to find someone else to play Sergeant Franklin John Rock.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the story about Craig’s departure, but the reason for his exit remains uncertain. THR suggested that some sources blamed Craig’s decision on Queer‘s failure to produce box office results or awards season nominations, while others said that it was because of scheduling issues with Craig’s wife, Rachel Weisz. Either way, DC Studios still plans to move forward with a Sgt. Rock movie, with a potential shoot planned for this summer in England. The Bear‘s Jeremy Allen White was mentioned as a possible replacement for Craig, but he isn’t the only candidate up for the role.
Among DC’s characters, Sgt. Rock has always been an outlier. He was created in 1959 by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Joe Kubert for DC’s World War II stories that were set far away from the company’s superhero titles despite sharing a universe with the likes of Superman and Batman. Sgt. Rock was the leader of Easy Company, a daring U.S. Army unit deployed to Europe at the height of the war. Rock and Easy Company have subsequently appeared in some one-off stories alongside a few of DC’s costumed heroes. But for the most part, Rock’s adventures have been kept separate from the rest of DC Universe.
It’s unknown if the Sgt. Rock movie is a part of James Gunn’s reboot DCU, which is launching with Superman later this summer. It’s entirely possible that Sgt. Rock will be a standalone film without any larger connections to the DCU.
