Whatever Happened To Ray Fisher After Justice League?
In October 2014, Ray Fisher detailed his first time being on the set of a DC Comics film. Fisher had recently been cast as Victor Stone/Cyborg in the DC Extended Universe and was kicking off his presence in the franchise via a cameo in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," which would set up Fisher's pronounced role in "Justice League" in 2017. Fisher noted at the time that he got to meet nearly all of his "Justice League" co-stars while on the set and was blown away by how easygoing the on-set atmosphere was. It was a breezy introduction to the world of on-camera acting that made Fisher excited for what the future of his career would look like.
Fisher's stint in the DC Extended Universe ended with "Justice League" (and a much more major presence in 2021's recut "Zack Snyder's Justice League") but that doesn't mean Fisher's exploits as an artist have also concluded. On the contrary, Fisher's been incredibly busy as an actor since 2017 across multiple mediums, including the world of stage acting, where he got his start as a performer. No longer needing to clear his schedule for endless reprisals of Cyborg, Fisher has had lots of time for exciting roles. Let's take a look at the wide array of projects and personal passions that Fisher has been engaged in since "Justice League," which tend to reflect both the talents and artistic affinities of this particular actor.
What was Ray Fisher doing up to Justice League?
Before exploring where Ray Fisher's career has gone in the aftermath of "Justice League," it's important to consider where he was before he was cast in the DC Extended Universe. Save for a role in the 2008 short film "The Good, the Bad, and the Confused," and a 2015 guest appearance on the TV show "The Astronaut Wives Club," Fisher's debut appearance as Victor Stone/Cyborg in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" was the actor's inaugural performance in front of a camera. However, Fisher had already cultivated a prolific reputation in the world of stage acting before he joined the DCEU. Most notably, Fisher had earned rave reviews for his work as Muhammad Ali in the play "Fetch Clay, Make Man," which was performed in New York City and Los Angeles.
Before that play, Fisher had also performed onstage in states like Oregon and New Jersey, admitting in interviews at the time that he had a special affinity for performing in William Shakespeare plays. After working so hard in this domain for years, Fisher catapulted to a new level of fame when he was cast as Victor Stone/Cyborg in the DC Extended Universe in April 2014. At the time, it was reported that Fisher had also been in contention for a lead role in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," a sign of just how in-demand this performer was before he ever secured a single film acting credit.
Ray Fisher's initial post-Justice League plans
At first, Ray Fisher's ambitions after "Justice League" were going to largely focus on the character of Victor Stone/Cyborg. Just as Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans played Iron Man and Captain America, respectively, in multiple Marvel movies, Fisher was supposed to inhabit the part of Cyborg for the long haul. This was apparent as early as 2014 when Warner Bros. set an April 2020 release date for a solo Cyborg movie headlined by Fisher. Given that it was six years into the future at that point, there were no concrete details about what "Cyborg" would look like or be about. However, the existence of such a project suggested lots of internal confidence in the longevity of Ray Fisher in this franchise.
In 2016, news broke that one of Fisher's first post-"Justice League" movies would be "The Flash," which was then set for a March 2018 release. A handful of moments in the theatrical cut of "Justice League" attempted to establish the idea of a rapport between Ezra Miller's Barry Allen/The Flash and Cyborg, a tease for the duo's dynamic in "The Flash." However, those initial plans for "The Flash" never came to fruition, with the final version of the project never featuring Fisher or Cyborg, while the solo Cyborg movie never got off the ground.
A role on True Detective
Fans of Ray Fisher didn't have to wait too long after "Justice League" for his next on-screen acting credit. A little over a year after the film's debut, Fisher showed up in eight episodes of the third season of "True Detective" as Henry Hays, son of that season's protagonist, Wayne Hays (Mahershala Ali). Though firmly a supporting player in this installment of the HBO anthology show, Fisher got to handle heavier and more grounded material in this production compared to his work on "Justice League." He also got to regularly interact with Ali, an esteemed actor who would be a dream scene partner for any performer.
Fisher expressed gratitude for the project giving him a chance to handle bleaker material that was reminiscent of the weighty dialogue and characters he tackled in his stage work. Ironically, despite being so passionate about playing Henry Hays, Fisher had never actually watched "True Detective" before getting offered a role in this show's third season, though he quickly rectified that oversight once he joined the production. With the third season of "True Detective," Ray Fisher reaffirmed his chops for dramatic acting and cemented his interest in portraying characters beyond just Cyborg in film and television.
Ray Fisher comes forward with allegations
In 2020, Ray Fisher began divulging to the public his allegations of mistreatment during reshoots for "Justice League." In July of that year, Fisher took to Twitter to publicly claim that Joss Whedon, who directed the film's reshoots, engaged in "gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable" behavior on the set. Three months later, Fisher went into more detail in an interview with Forbes about his experiences during the reshoot process of "Justice League," including accusing producer Geoff Johns of giving him racially insensitive notes. Fisher also claimed the treatment he suffered was a byproduct of a larger erasure of actors of color from the original cut of "Justice League," as performers like Kiersey Clemons and Zheng Kai were cut during this part of the production.
Fisher's allegations garnered enough traction and notoriety to inspire WarnerBros Discovery (then known as WarnerMedia) to investigate these claims. By December 2020, WarnerMedia released a statement simply noting that "remedial action had been taken" in response to the conclusions drawn by the investigation. In the years that followed, Fisher has repeatedly referenced his allegations regarding everything that happened on the "Justice League" set, including a statement he released when former DC Films head Walter Hamada left the company in October 2022. While Fisher alleged that the "Justice League" reshoots were meant to erase him, his dedication to holding powerful people accountable has certainly kept him on people's radars.
Shooting new scenes for Zack Snyder's Justice League
The same year that Ray Fisher opened up about his past experiences with "Justice League," he also got to create new memories attached to that superhero film. Earlier in 2020, Zack Snyder finally got the go-ahead from Warner Bros. brass to fully complete his vision for "Justice League." This process would require lots of money, visual effects work, and some reshoots involving the actors from the original movie. In October 2020, it was revealed that, in addition to performers like Ben Affleck, Ray Fisher would also be participating in reshoots and new scenes for "Zack Snyder's Justice League."
Months after "Zack Snyder's Justice League" hit HBO Max, Fisher revealed to Geeks of Color that he first watched this version of the film in a hotel room alone, where he experienced endless bursts of exhilaration over finally seeing Snyder's vision realized. Fisher elaborated that seeing this incarnation of the blockbuster felt like getting closure on a key part of his career, after spending years wondering if the initial version of "Justice League" would ever see the light of day. Thanks to his participation in those fateful reshoots (among other, greater external factors), this particular superhero blockbuster was finally released as intended and gave Fisher that vital emotional closure.
Fisher continued exploring the small screen with Women of the Movement
Though the 2022 ABC miniseries "Women of the Movement," as evidenced by its title, focused largely on a variety of different female characters, such as Mamie Till-Moley (Adrienne Warren), the program's six episodes still had room for multiple male characters. A perfect example of this was Gene Mobley, a boyfriend to Mamie Till-Mobley who appeared in four of the show's six episodes. This character was played by Ray Fisher in one of his very first roles after "Justice League." Working on this show gave Fisher a chance to, among other creatively exciting opportunities, work with some incredibly prolific directors like Gina Prince-Bythewood, Tina Mabry, and Kasi Lemmons.
Fisher revealed at a press conference for "Women of the Movement" that he found this miniseries especially relevant to him since the program came hot on the heels of his allegations against WarnerMedia of inappropriate behavior. Fisher wanted to make sure his response to both his own turmoil and larger systemic injustices went beyond just posting about it on social media. Acting in a TV program all about activism and taking a stand against wrongs in American society was something he felt deeply passionate about and honored to be connected with. No wonder Fisher took on this project as one of his first post-"Justice League" roles.
Ray Fisher was written out of The Flash
Dating back to August 2016, Ray Fisher's Cyborg was always meant to appear in "The Flash" in a major capacity. In the years that followed, though, "The Flash" went through a multitude of new creative teams and potential release dates. Amidst all this turmoil, it remained likely, though never fully certain, that Fisher would still reprise the role in this particular film. In June 2020, just under a year after director Andy Muschietti had been hired to helm "The Flash," producer Barbara Muschietti indicated that this version of Cyborg would still appear in "The Flash." Fisher would later recall that he had a positive phone conversation with Andy Muschietti about his role in "The Flash" that very same month, perhaps explaining Barbara's optimism over Cyborg's potential presence.
By the end of 2020, however, it was publicly revealed that Ray Fisher's Cyborg had been cut from "The Flash" and that the actor would not be reprising the character in future Warner Bros. projects. Fisher would later take to social media to clarify that he had not voluntarily stepped down from this role and alleged that Warner Bros. had jettisoned him from the part of Cyborg. With this development, it was clear Fisher's time in the DC Extended Universe was coming to a close, though his career as an actor was far from over.
Debuting on Broadway in The Piano Lesson
Ray Fisher's acting credits before his DC Extended Universe exploits were almost exclusively confined to the world of the stage. However, he had become so busy in the late 2010s with his on-camera work that he rarely had time to return to the style of acting he'd originally gotten famous for. That finally changed in 2022, when Fisher took on one of the primary roles in a new staging of "The Piano Lesson," a seminal text from "Fences" writer August Wilson. Acting in this play would be an enticing proposition under any circumstance, given how much weighty material Wilson's writing gives actors. However, this particular gig was especially electrifying for Fisher because this 2022 incarnation of "The Piano Lesson" would mark his Broadway debut.
In an interview with Playbill, Fisher expressed excitement over not only getting to perform on Broadway but to do so in a piece written by August Wilson. Though "The Piano Lesson" was written decades earlier, Fisher noted that his performance was informed by how relevant the story felt today, particularly regarding how "The Piano Lesson" grapples with the concept of who molds the perception of history. Combining that theme with the play's hefty notion of how important it is to recognize the past before one can carve out a sustainable future, Fisher found endless thoughtful concepts to work with in his return to the world of stage acting.
Ray Fisher took a trip to the Rebel Moon
Though he's kept busy as an actor in many respects since the November 2017 premiere of "Justice League," Ray Fisher did not immediately appear in further film roles after that (save for reprising the role of Cyborg in "Zack Snyder's Justice League" in 2021). His hiatus from feature film acting came to a close in 2023 with another Zack Snyder directorial effort. This time, Fisher was cast as Darrian Bloodaxe, one of many oddball action-prone aliens scattered across the main cast of "Rebel Moon," allowing Fisher to re-enter the action movie game with a director he deeply trusted.
Fisher and Snyder have developed such a bond that this actor opted to take the same cinematic inspirations for his performance that Snyder did when molding the entire look of "Rebel Moon." Fisher revealed to Empire that, much as "Seven Samurai" influenced Snyder's vision for "Rebel Moon," so too did this actor model his physicality after Toshirô Mifune's performance in that classic Akira Kurosawa feature. While Fisher was conscious of classic cinema when playing Darrian Bloodaxe, he also reveled in aspects of the character as silly as his name, or as over-the-top as his massive gun. This weapon almost towered over Fisher, making it one of many remarkable elements this actor encountered in his return to acting in motion pictures.
Returning to his Piano Lesson role in a film
In May 2023, Ray Fisher garnered a nomination in the Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play category at the Drama Desk Awards for his work on "The Piano Lesson." This production was now not only Fisher's grand entrance into the world of Broadway acting, but also a new exciting step into the kind of accolades he was receiving as an actor. Between this event and Fisher's self-proclaimed excitement over getting to participate in this play, it's no surprise that Fisher embraced an opportunity to reprise his "Piano Lesson" role in another medium.
In April 2023, it was revealed that "The Piano Lesson" was becoming a film on Netflix, the same streamer that carried the 2020 adaptation of another August Wilson play, "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." Fisher and other key cast members from the 2022 revival of "The Piano Lesson," namely John David Washington and Samuel L. Jackson, would be returning for this film adaptation while acting newcomers to the project would include Danielle Deadwyler and Corey Hawkins. The movie, which is apparently in post-production, marked an interesting moment in Fisher's career. With this film adaptation of an August Wilson play, two parts of his career merged: stage acting and film performances. It appears this performer doesn't have to abandon one medium of acting for another — his talents can continue in both domains.