Zack Snyder Hands Justice League To Joss Whedon To Grieve Over Daughter

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While Warner Bros. continued to place their trust in Zack Snyder after the DC Extended Universe movie Batman v Superman received divisive reviews from fans and critics, many were worried that the director would commit the same mistakes in the highly anticipated Justice League.

However, while the project has wrapped up filming months ago and is currently under post-production, it seems like Snyder is stepping down from the director's chair to focus on his family.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Snyder and his family suffered the loss of their daughter, Autumn Snyder, who committed suicide back in March, forcing Snyder and his wife Deborah, who is also a producer on the movie, to take a break from working on Justice League.

The death of the 20-year-old Autumn was kept secret so that the family could grieve in private, and during that time production was made to take a two-week break for the Snyder's to bury their daughter and deal with tragedy. Snyder was initially eager to return to the project to lose himself in his work, however the demands of the production have become too much to bear that he's decided to step down from the director's seat and hand it to Joss Whedon who is slated to work on DC's Batgirl.

"In my mind, I thought it was a cathartic thing to go back to work, to just bury myself and see if that was way through it," the emotional Snyder said in an interview in his office. "The demands of this job are pretty intense. It is all-consuming. And in the last two months, I've come to the realization … I've decided to take a step back from the movie to be with my family, be with my kids, who really need me. They are all having a hard time. I'm having a hard time."

This is heartbreaking news and while many fans are concerned over the state of Justice League, Snyder must be given time to heal over the loss of his daughter. Warner Bros. Pictures president Toby Emmerich also assures fans that Whedon will keep to Snyder's style for coherence.

"The directing is minimal and it has to adhere to the style and tone and the template that Zack set," says Emmerich. "We're not introducing any new characters. It's the same characters in some new scenes. He's handing a baton to Joss, but the course has really been set by Zack. I still believe that despite this tragedy, we'll still end up with a great movie."

With the film mostly done, it's very likely that Whedon will only have to work on a few additional scenes for the movie as well as post-production.

Justice League releases on November 17, 2017.

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