Exclusive: Ray Fisher’s Cyborg Being Recast With Younger Actor
Giant Freakin Robot has exclusively learned that Ray Fisher won't return as Cyborg, but they'll be keeping the character anyway. Here's how.
Update: DC did not end up recasting Ray Fisher’s Cyborg character, though the entire DC Cinematic Unvierse got a reset.
It feels highly unlikely that Ray Fisher has a future in the DC Extended Universe. After a long period of dispute between Warner Bros and Fisher, public statements from both parties have indicated that their relationship is over. The actor only just got started bringing Cyborg to life in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League. It feels like fans of the movies are only just getting to know the DC Comics character. Does Fisher’s exit mean we’ll never get to know Cyborg on screen? It turns out that Warner Bros has a new plan for Cyborg’s return, minus Fisher.
Our trusted and proven inside source has let us in on the studio’s plan. While they can’t mend fences with Ray Fisher, they still want to further develop Cyborg on screen. The studio plans to get a new and younger actor to play Cyborg for the DC Extended Universe. It’s unclear how they’ll handle this in terms of the story, but in the superhero world, this shouldn’t be an impossible feat for the writers to acknowledge in a way that could make sense.
Cyborg’s next appearance was supposed to be in The Flash. That movie is currently filming. While we don’t know a lot about the plot, we do know that it’s going to involve time travel. We also know that Ray Fisher won’t be appearing in that movie as Cyborg. Even with the studio disputes, this was a surprise blow.
Several months ago, the actor said that Cyborg had more than just a cameo in the movie. Cyborg was a big player in the story. Only two months ago, Fisher met with Andy Muschietti, the director of The Flash. Fisher said that he liked the director and wanted to find a way to work with him if he could, though he still had problems with the studio. While that didn’t work out for Fisher, it tells us that only a couple of months before the movie began filming, Cyborg was still a major player in the script. So while Warner Bros. had publicly said they wouldn’t bring Ray Fisher back on set, they hadn’t written out Cyborg.
Our source didn’t share whether a younger actor for Cyborg will appear in The Flash or another project, but The Flash seems like a very possible first appearance for the new actor in the role at this point. With the combination of time travel in the storyline and Cyborg’s scenes appearing to still be in the script, The Flash may be the perfect story opportunity to replace Ray Fisher in the role in a way that will make sense to audiences.
Getting audiences to accept the new actor will definitely be a challenge for Warner Bros as they move ahead with this decision. For one thing, this may feel to some fans like a slap in the face to Ray Fisher. While he’s still a relatively little-known actor, his controversy with the studio has been very public. His story about the abuse he suffered on the Justice League set from Joss Whedon has since become more substantiated and sympathetic, particularly since other actors on the set have come forward. While Warner Bros. maintains that they did their best and followed procedures, he has insisted that they did not and he wants a public apology, which the studio won’t comply with. Audiences who were tied to the actor’s portrayal of Cyborg, or who feel sympathy for Fisher in this situation, may be biased against the new casting decision.
That bias may make the new actor’s job more difficult. It will also mean the writers will need to take extra care to make the new Cyborg as entertaining as possible. One way the studio might try to avoid some of the backlash for recasting Ray Fisher is by keeping this news as quiet as possible until the new actor is on screen. If they provide a new actor to look at, the story makes sense, and Cyborg seems cool, it may distract audiences from Fisher being replaced. For now, we’ll be watching and waiting to see where they surprise us with the new actor for Cyborg and how they’ll pull his storyline together.
