After James Gunn’s Superman flies onto the 2025 movies schedule next month and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow follows in June 2026, Clayface will be the next of the upcoming DC movies. Officially greenlit last December, this flick will mark the cinematic debut of the shapeshifting member of Batman’s rogues gallery, and follows his DC Universe debut in the Max subscription-exclusive animated series Creature Commandos. However, rather than have Alan Tudyk reprise Clayface, someone else will inhabit the character’s messy shoes on the big screen, and I like these four actors who are reportedly in consideration.
If scooper MyTimeToShineHello is to be believed, George MacKay, Tom Blyth, Jack O’Connell and Leo Woodall are all testing to play Clayface in the DCU. One of these young English actors is expected to land the role, though there’s no mention of who in the quartet is looking likelier than the rest. Assuming this information is accurate, then this is an exceptional lineup of talent to choose from.
In case any or even all of these four actors are unfamiliar to you, here’s a quick rundown. George MacKay is arguably best known for playing the title protagonist of 2003’s Peter Pan and co-leading the 2019 World War I movie 1917 alongside Dean-Charles Chapman. Tom Blyth rose to fame playing Coriolanus Snow in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, and is currently leading the MGM+ series Billy the Kid. Jack O’Connell starred in Ferrari with Adam Driver and was just seen performing opposite Michael B. Jordan in Sinners. Finally, Leo Woodall appeared in The White Lotus Season 2 and appeared alongside Renée Zellweger earlier this year in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.
Feel free to do deeper dives into their resumes on your own. The point being, I certainly wouldn’t mind if one of these four actors was selected to play Clayface. Whether it’s MacKay, Blyth, O’Connell, Woodall or maybe even someone who hasn’t been revealed yet, they will be the fourth actor to portray this villain in live action, as Clayface was previously played by Kirk Baltz on Birds of Prey, Brian McManamon on Gotham, and Lorraine Burroughs on Pennyworth.
The Clayface movie has been described as a “Hollywood horror story” about a B-movie actor who takes a substance that’s meant to keep him relevant, but turns him into a clay monstrosity. Meaning, we’re almost certainly getting the Basil Karlo incarnation of Clayface given his acting background, though I suppose he could also be merged with Matt Hagen like Batman: The Animated Series did. Either way, what I’m curious about is if these one of these actors will be playing Clayface in his original form, or is this meant to be the idealized version of himself.
We’ll find out as we move closer and closer to Clayface’s September 11, 2026 drop in theaters. James Watkins is directing the DCU movie, and although Mike Flanagan penned the original screenplay, Hossein Amini is now rewriting it.
