Like Tim Burton’s Superman movie, George Miller’s Justice League is one of the great “what ifs” of movies that almost happened. And like Burton’s film, there’s a documentary in the works that will explore Miller’s concept for the Justice League movie and just what happened to it. Until then, Miller himself has offered an explanation, but if you were looking for some juicy gossip you might be a little disappointed.

The Mad Max director sat down for an interview with THR, where he was asked about his Justice League project with Warner Bros. That film was set to star Armie Hammer as Batman, Adam Brody as The Flash, Megan Gale as Wonder Woman and several more interesting choices. As Miller explains it, the reason we never saw his version of Justice League was simply due to a little bureaucracy and timing:

Justice League was the main one. That was, oh, seven years ago, I think. And there was a really great script. And Warners said, “Let’s do it. Let’s do a Justice League.” I really was attracted to it. But there was a writers strike looming. We had to cast it very quickly, which we did with Warner’s casting people. And we cast it really quickly and we mounted it very quickly. And it depended on a start date and it depended on some basic rebate legislation that had just got through a new Australian government. But it was just too big a decision for them to make in the time. And that fell through and the whole film fell through. We almost got there. And it wasn’t to be. But that happens a lot, where films line up and the stars look like they’re aligning and they didn’t.

Although we’ll never see Miller’s version, many photos have leaked out over the years to give us an idea of what could have been. The film was also set to star D.J. Cotrona (From Dusk Till Dawn) as Superman, Common as Green Lantern, Santiago Cabrera (Heroes) as Aquaman, Mad Max star Hugh Keays-Byrne as Martian Manhunter, Anton Yelchin as Wally West and Jay Baruchel as the villainous Maxwell Lord.

Miller’s exit from the project is likely for the best, though, as he recently returned to live-action filmmaking with Mad Max: Fury Road — one of the best films of 2015. Up next, the director says he’s been inspired by indie hit Tangerine to work on a smaller project before he returns to the world of Mad Max.

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