ClayFace: Key information
– set to arrive in September 2026
– Filming in progress in different parts of UK
– No trailer released yet
– Tom Harries plays the titular character
– Other role crew members apparently confirmed
– Unclear about Batman will appear
– The Synopsis of the History that has not yet been revealed
– will be an R-classified body horror
– No Intel on what future DCU projects it can create
ClayfaceThe third film that arrives as part of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Universe (DCU) is cast as we speak.
Due to September 11, 2026, DCU’s first horror movie introduces a wider audience for the Shapeshifting Batman villain in his first standalone flick ever. Although he is a well -known face of DC comic book fans, most Cinephiles will have a crash course on who ClayFace is and why he gets a solo movie in DCU before The Dark Knight does.
In this guide, I have rounded off the latest and most important information about the upcoming movie. It includes more about the nature of clayface as well as flick’s expected role crew, possible history information and more.
Clayface release date
A week’s Gotham City in Liverpool now takes over City Street #ClayFace #thebatman #batman #liverpool pic.twitter.com/pex28imejSeptember 6, 2025
As I mentioned up, Clayface are ready to arrive September 11, 2026. This launch date was announced as part of a larger DCU update provided by Gunn and Safran in February 2025.
Main photography began in the UK in September, with cities and cities in northwestern England, including Liverpool, Stockport and New Brighton, chosen as stand-ins for Gotham City, also the municipality of Batman primarily operates out of. This is the second time Liverpool has been used as a replacement for Gotham, as some of the 2022s BatmanWhich is part of Matt Reeves Bat-Vers, officially sitting independently of DCU, was also filmed in this city.
ClayFace Trailer: Is there one?
No. With the cameras still rolling on DCU Chapter 1 movie, it will be a while before a trailer is released.
Hopefully a teaser will come out in early 2026. Next year’s San Diego Comic-Con, which takes place three months before Clayface Releases in theaters are the most likely place for a full trailer reveal.
Clayface Cast: What actors should appear?
Night movie by ClayFace in St George’s Hall ….@Livechonews Pic.twitter.com/mfvg8oizreSeptember 5, 2025
Possible spoilers follow for Clayface.
So far it is only an actor who has been confirmed to appear in Clayface. However, three other stars are shown on the set and/or are unofficially added to its role crew:
- Tom Rhys Harries like Matt Hagen/ClayFace
- Naomi ackie as tbc
- Max Minghella as TBC
- Eddie Marsan as TBC
Harries that some may recognize from 2024 Doctor Who Episode ‘Dot and Bubble’ is the film’s lead. Gunn revealed that he announced his employment in mid-June, revealed that he and other DC-Studio’s co-chief Peter Safran “was blown” by Harries’ audition to Clayface‘s title role.
As for which version of the character Harries plays, it will be Matt Hagen. First appeared in ‘Detective Comics #298’ in December 1961, Hagen is the second person who assumes Supervillain’s name and physiology after Basil Karlo, who debuted in DC comics in ‘Detective Comics #40’ in December 1940.
In the source material, the chin is a treasure hunter who turns into the outrageous Shapeshifter after coming into contact with a pool of radioactive protoplasm. In DCU, however, the chin is an actor who, whose rumors are to be believed, will undergo an experimental procedure and be transformed into a person made of clay.
Ackie, who will play a scientist called Caitlin Bates (according to Hollywood Reporter (THR), could be behind Hagens Transmutation. Thr has also claimed that Minghella plays a police detective named John, who is surrounded in an investigation involving the chin. Both stars have been viewed on the film’s films set in Liverpool, all of them,
Tom Rhys Harries and Eddie Marsan go on the set of clayface! pic.twitter.com/3axh7zidd31 August 2025
Marsan is also seen shooting scenes in Liverpool. Based on recordings uploaded to X/Twitter (see above), it seems that Marsan was seen with an identical set of clothing for those carried by Harries so he could be one of the hedge’s form -changing human disguises. However, Industry Insider Apocalyptic Horseman has suggested that Marsan be Hagen’s manager, so the jury is still out on Marsan’s mystery role.
Another DC character that fans would love to see, even if it is in a como capacity, is Batman. After all, the clayface member of Caped Crusader’s Rogues Gallery is then This movie feels like the perfect opportunity to officially reveal DCU’s iteration of The Dark Knight.
But while DCU’s Batman is teased in other projects including section 6 of Creature Commandos2025’s Superman Film and Section 1 of Peacemaker Season 2 has not yet been hired to play Bruce Wayne and his vigilant alter ego. So unless Batman only appears in silhouette form as he did in Creature Commandos Section 6, it is incredibly unlikely that he will be involved.
Clayface Story speculation
Exciting news from @Dcofficial Studios today as #Clayface, a DCU story from a screenplay by Mike Flanagan, has officially been green. Clayface premieres in 2026.December 13, 2024
Potential spoilers follow for Clayface.
There is very little public information about Clayfaceplot, but there are some history -based details that float around the web.
To begin with where he was talking to Gizmodo last December, Gunn said he “didn’t plan to make a Clayface Movie, “but the manuscript from the horror of the horror Mike Flanagan was so good that it was quickly put into production. In the same month, Gunn also confirmed (see X/Twitter post above) that the James Watkins-instrumented project is officially part of DCU, which thus concludes speculation that it will exist as part of Matt’s Bat-Verse.
In July 2025, Gunn-Via revealed DC Studios podcast-to it will be R-classified. It’s 18+ for fans outside the US. Per Thr’s Heat Vision Newsletter, The Body Horror, which Safran has described as DC’s takeover The fly (per Brandon Davis), will be produced in the vein by an indie horror -flick, with an allegedly modest $ 45 million budget to help it be green -lit.
Inspirationally, Flanagan ComicBook.com told the movie taking its signals from ‘Feat of Clay’, a two-part fan-favorite story involving the titular villain in the beloved program Batman: The animated series. The Hagen version appears in this two-parties, which is probably why the chin rather than Karlo was chosen to be this flick’s protagonist
For what it is worth it is unclear if the karlo version is the one that appeared in season 1 of Creature CommandosThe adult animated HBO Max show that kick -started DCU last December or if it’s also the chin. If it is the former, there will be two clay surfaces that run around the DCU. If it is the latter, it is possible Clayface can serve as a prequel to Harries’ Supervillain origin and is going on Creature Commandos.
Either way, it doesn’t sound like this movie will directly customize the story told in ‘Feat of Clay’. In the double header, the chin is seriously injured in a car accident, and after getting an experimental serum by a dishonest businessman, the chin is able to transform into anyone he wants.
According to Thr, however, the chin will be the victim of an evil gang attack that leaves him crazy in this movie. Deadline also suggests that the chin will be more of a sympathetic character than his comic book -so, so Clayface Can be more of a Greek tragedy than a straight-up villain.
Clayface’s back must hurt so badly from carrying so much DCU -LORE. pic.twitter.com/mg2tiyktqiSeptember 11, 2025
Finally, as the above X/Twitter post indicates, DCU’s third Big-Screen deals will be full of references and recalls to other figures operating in Gotham, including famous city rankings such as Club Vesuvius. This place, owned by Mobster Johnny Sabatino, could host a large set piece in the film, especially if Sabatino is the man responsible for physically attenuating the chin.
It will be interesting to see if the rest of these DC comics references are just Easter eggs, or whether we actually meet any of the people they tease, such as the Joker, the Grayson family, Penguin, Black Canary, Black Mask and Zatanna -the latter is a club Vesuvius regularly. I would be stunned if any or all of these characters show up but I have been wrong before.
Will ClayFace establish other DCU movies and TV shows?
The short answer is: We don’t know. Given the aforementioned references it is possible that Clayface could lay the basis of any of the above characters and/or Batman to be introduced to DCU.
At the time of the initial publication of this article, however Peacemaker Season 2 has only just passed its centerpiece at HBO Max. According to Gunn PeacemakerSophomore season has the key to its overall plan for DCU Chapter 1, also known as ‘Gods and Monsters’. So we’ll have to wait until it ends to see how it will help establish the primary tale of ‘gods and monsters’ before we can determine if we Clayface will have a role in storing these plans through its wider association with Batman and Gotham City.
