HBO Max and Matt Reeves, the filmmaker behind the new Batman movie, have teamed up to develop a dramatic series set in the crime-infested streets of the Caped Crusader’s hometown, Gotham City.
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The untitled police drama will be set in the same universe as the forthcoming feature film starring Robert Pattinson.
HBO Max and Matt Reeves, the filmmaker behind the new Batman movie, have teamed up to develop a police drama series set in the crime-infested streets of the Caped Crusader’s hometown Gotham City.
Terence Winter, who created the Prohibition crime drama Boardwalk Empire and cut his teeth on The Sopranos, will write and executive produce the series, which is coming with a series commitment from HBO Max. Batman producer Dylan Clark and Warner Bros. Television are also involved.
The series does not yet have a title, although some have been calling it Gotham Central, harkening back to the police procedural comic from writers Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka, and GCPD. Either way, it would deal with police detectives working in the shadow of one very batlike vigilante.
Here’s the cool wrinkle: The show will operate in the same story universe as Reeves’ movie, The Batman, which stars Robert Pattinson as Batman. It also has Jeffrey Wright in the role of detective or police commissioner James Gordon.
HBO Max says the series will be "set in the world Reeves is creating for The Batman feature film and will build upon the motion picture’s examination of the anatomy of corruption in Gotham City, ultimately launching a new Batman universe across multiple platforms. The series provides an unprecedented opportunity to extend the world established in the movie and further explore the myriad of compelling and complex characters of Gotham."
It is unclear whether Wright and Pattinson would appear in the show. No castings have been made at this early stage, sources say.
“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 longform format can afford," said Reeves in a statement. "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 project comes together as Reeves moves his overall television deal from Disney-owned 20th Century Fox Television to Warner Bros. TV and would be one of the first projects out of that pact. (Reeves’ film deal remains with Netflix.)
“Our collaboration with Warner Bros. and DC allows us to elaborate and grow fan connections across these powerful brands for years to come," said HBO Max chief content officer Kevin Reilly. "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."
Reeves’ 6th & Idaho production company will produce the series in association with Warner Bros. Television. Joining Winter as exec producers will be Reeves and Clark. 6th & Idaho’s Daniel Pipski (From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series) and Adam Kassan (Tales From the Loop) will also exec produce. Rafi Crohn (Tales From the Loop) will co-executive produce.
Gotham City’s finest have already been the subject of a TV series. Gotham, which ran on Fox from 2014 to 2019, focused on a relatively young Gordon, played by Benjamin McKenzie, and featured the origins of Batman’s rogue’s gallery. And The CW already airs Batwoman, the Batman-centric show that this week tapped Javicia Leslie as the replacement for departing star Ruby Rose.
HBO Max has made developing DC-centric shows one of its top priorities and has J.J. Abrams and his Bad Robot banner, among other producers, working on several supernatural shows based on DC intellectual property.
Winter, repped by CAA, also wrote The Wolf of Wall Street, which earned him a best adapted screenplay Oscar nomination. His work on Sopranos earned him 12 Emmy nominations and four wins.
Reeves is in prep to restart shooting Batman, which had paused due to the pandemic, this fall in the U.K. [/quote]
I mean we had a Gotham TV Show on Fox I dearly loved with Fox for Years and it dealt with Gotham before Batman got into the picture, but another Show sorta like that with Batman on the prowl already could be fun. I wonder though when you get where you want to go with this, you're going to see Batman so...who is gonna play him and how do you separate this TV Show vs the Film even though it's gonna be in the same Universe.
