DC Studios has found its Clayface: the handsome Tom Rhys Harries.
According to Variety, the Welsh actor known for his role in Apple TV’s Suspicion and Netflix’s White Lines has officially joined the cast as the lead role for the upcoming title focused on the Batman villain. Harries secured the role after beating out talents such as Jack O’Connell (Sinners), Leo Woodall (The White Lotus), Tom Blyth (Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes) and George MacKay (1917).
The film will be produced by Lynn Harris and Matt Reeves, with production set to start this fall, per The Wrap. The outlet also confirmed that Harries’ iteration of Clayface will be based on the Matt Hagen version of the character. Mike Flanagan wrote the initial draft for the movie, with Hossein Amini writing the most recent Clayface draft; James Wilkins will direct the film for a Sept. 11, 2026 release date.
The forthcoming movie represents a bold new direction for DC Studios after the crash and burn of its initial DC Extended Universe run, which began with 2013’s Man of Steel and ended with 2023’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. From the ashes appeared James Gunn’s new direction for the comic book-focused studio, which will be spearheaded by Superman, releasing in theaters on July 11, and followed by Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, which is scheduled to hit theaters on June 26, 2026.
“Clayface is totally DCU,” said Gunn during the DC Studios Presentation earlier this year.
“The only thing that’s in Matt’s world, his Crime Saga that he’s telling, is the Batman Trilogy, the Penguin series, that’s in that lane,” Safran later added. “So still under DC Studios, still under us. We have an incredible relationship with Matt, but those are the only things…It was important that Clayface be part of the DCU. It’s an origin story for a classic Batman villain that we want to have in our world.”
Clayface debuted in Detective Comics #40 in June 1940 as a B-list horror movie actor named Basil Karlo. Karlo, enraged after one of his movies was remade, left the thespian to pick up a life of crime, adopting his Clayface moniker based on a role he played on screen.
For some fans, the most memorable version of Clayface may be his appearance in the Batman: The Animated Series episodes, “Feat of Clay Part 1” and “Feat of Clay Part 2.” This version of Clayface is a man named Matt Hagen and has a more tragic backstory to boot, becoming the terrifying, shape-shifting villain that antagonizes Batman and Gotham City.
Flanagan’s first draft of the film was inspired by the BTAS Clayface, so fans may be in for a real treat if that version of the movie makes it to theaters in 2026.
