Brad Bird wrote the original story for Ray Gunn about a detective film in an alternate future and then went on to develop the script with Matthew Robbins. Originally, the film was intended to be produced by Turner Feature Animation in the 1990s but was shelved when Bird went on to direct The Iron Giant at Warner Bros. Feature Animation instead following Turner's merger with Time Warner in 1996.[2] Despite this, Bird did not forget about his Ray Gunn project, stating that he recently negotiated for the rights to the material and telling Warner Bros. that, "Either let's make it or let me try to make it somewhere else."[1]
In February 2022, it was announced that Bird would revive Ray Gunn for Skydance Animation after being dormant for decades.[3] According to Bird, he described Ray Gunn as a more adult project in the noir genre, "sort of a detective film in an alternate future" that follows protagonist Raymond Gunn. He stated, "If you mashed up The Maltese Falcon with Buck Rogers, it might be something like that. But hopefully with a bit more action and funnier."[1]
