Holy Synergy, Batman! Matt Reeves, the helmer of the upcoming DC flick, ‘The Batman’ is crafting a companion TV series focusing on the Gotham Police Department for HBO Max. Reeves is collaborating with ‘Boardwalk Empire’s creator, Terence Winter, and ‘The Batman’ producer, Dylan Clark. The project originates from Warner Bros. Television.
Winter is writing and the show will be set in the corrupt world of the GCPD that Reeves establishes in ‘The Batman’. The series will “build upon the film’s examination of the anatomy of corruption in Gotham City” created by Reeves in ‘The Batman’. Reeves recently signed an overall first-look deal with Warner Brothers and this is the first project to come from it.
The filmmaker declared:
“This is an amazing opportunity, not only to expand the vision of the world I am creating in the film, but to explore it in the kind of depth and detail that only a long-form format can afford — and getting to work with the incredibly talented Terence Winter, who has written so insightfully and powerfully about worlds of crime and corruption, is an absolute dream.”
Reilly added:
“Our collaboration with Warner Bros and DC allows us to elaborate and grow fan connections across these powerful brands for years to come. This is Batman as most audiences have never seen before, and we know fans will want to spend more time in this new world inspired by the film.”
The head of original content for HBO Max, Sarah Aubrey, also stated:
“We are so fortunate to have such great partners in Matt, Dylan, and Terry and unprecedented access to a wealth of IP from our partners at Warner Bros and DC.”
This sounds a lot like what ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ was supposed to be– a chance to further flesh out the world created by the movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but a rift between Kevin Feige/Marvel Studios and Marvel Entertainment put the kibosh on that, and ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ was left to flounder on its own, cut off from the movie source material.
It also sounds an awful lot like ‘Gotham’, which just wrapped after five seasons. Ben McKenzie played Detective James Gordon, in the days before he became Commissioner.
Unlike ‘Gotham’, however, with this unnamed show being offered via HBO Max, it will be able to be adults-only. That’s not to say it WILL BE, but it COULD BE.
Geoffrey Rush is portraying James Gordon in ‘The Batman’, and like McKenzie’s take, will not yet be Commissioner. Will he be the star of this new show? He must, right? Rush is currently one of the leads on HBO’s ‘Westworld’, but who knows how much longer that will go on? And besides that, there are about two years between seasons, so Rush can probably work around that schedule.
One thing this unexpectedly confirms is that ‘The Batman’ is NOT connected to the existing DC movies. It is NOT a prequel to Batffleck. Because if it was, then this show would be touted as expanding on the larger DC Universe of films, not just this one picture. THAT Universe is introducing a new older Batman, possibly played by Michael Keaton. While this may sound confusing, if you read DC’s comics it’s nothing new. Just think of them as parallel Earths.
What do you think of a new Gotham City show that expands upon the upcoming movie?
‘The Batman’ is scheduled to open on October 1, 2021.
Source: Deadline
