HBO Max has announced that it’s given an original series commitment to a new drama from The Batman director Matt Reeves, Boardwalk Empire creator Terrence Winter, The Batman producer Dylan Clark and Warner Bros. Television. The show will focus on the Gotham City Police Department and perhaps best of all, will be set within the world of Reeves’ upcoming film.
“This is an amazing opportunity,” said Reeves. “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 longform 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.”
The series will be written by Winter and will build upon the anatomy of corruption in Gotham City that’s set up by Reeves’ film, in the process launching a new Batman universe across multiple platforms. The series provides an unprecedented opportunity to extend the world established in The Batman and further explore the myriad of compelling and complex characters of Gotham. Behind the scenes, it’s the first television project for Reeves under his recently announced overall deal with the Warner Bros. Television Group.
“Our collaboration with Warner Bros. and DC allows us to elaborate and grow fan connections across these powerful brands for years to come,” said Kevin Reilly, chief content officer, HBO Max, president TNT, TBS, and TruTV. “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 Batman is currently slated to hit theaters on October 1, 2021 and will give fans a look at a young Batman early in his career as a superhero. It stars Robert Pattinson as Batman/Bruce Wayne and Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon, though it’s unknown at this time which characters from the movie—if any—will appear on the show.
Reeves’ 6th & Idaho production company will produce the series in association with Warner Bros. Television. Reeves and Emmy winner/Oscar nominee Winter will executive produce with Clark. The drama, which is based on characters created for DC by Bob Kane with Bill Finger, will also be executive produced by 6th & Idaho’s Daniel Pipski (From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series) and Adam Kassan (Tales from the Loop); Rafi Crohn (Tales from the Loop) will co-executive produce. Warner Bros. International Television Distribution will distribute the series globally.
Before starting on The Batman, Reeves was probably best known for directing the two most recent “Planet of the Apes” movies, 2014’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes. He also directed 2010’s acclaimed horror remake Let Me In executive produced this year’s Tales from the Loop for Amazon. Winter’s pedigree for this kind of material is stellar, having won four Emmy Awards for his work on HBO’s The Sopranos and garnering two more nominations for Boardwalk Empire. He was also nominated for an adapted screenplay Academy Award for his work on Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street.
While this not-yet-titled DCTV series will be wholly original, the GCPD has been an important part of Batman canon for many years and there are plenty of comics the show’s creative team can look to for inspiration. The most obvious one is probably Gotham Central, which debuted in 2002 from writers Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker and artist Michael Lark and looked at the impact of Batman and his rogues gallery on the non-powered officers of the GCPD. Gotham’s police also factored heavily in Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s Batman: Year One, which told the story of Jim Gordon’s rise alongside Batman’s. Other recent takes on the GCPD include the variations seen in Fox’s Gotham and in Cathy Wan’s Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn).
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