‘The Batman’ Spinoff Shows on Gotham PD and Arkham Got Dropped After HBO Execs Wanted to ‘Lean Harder into Marquee Characters,’ Says Matt Reeves

“The Batman” director Matt Reeves recently told Entertainment Weekly that series centered on the Gotham police department and Arkham Asylum were dropped after HBO executives suggested to focus more on “marquee characters” from the Batman universe. Reeves is expanding the universe he launched in “The Batman” into television starting with this fall’s “The Penguin,” in which Colin Farrell reprises his role as the eponymous Gotham City gangster.

“As we were writing the movie [‘The Batman’], I was like, ‘Hey, you know what? I think there are some cool shows that we could do,” Reeves said about wanting to expand his Dark Knight universe. “It was actually why I wanted to make our deal at Warner Bros.”

“The Batman” spinoff series centered on the Gotham police department was announced in July 2020 and backed by Reeves and “Boardwalk Empire” creator Terence Winter, who then exited the project in November and was replaced by Joe Barton in January 2021. Reeves said on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast in March 2022 that the original plan for the Gotham PD series was to take inspiration from Sidney Lumet’s “Prince of the City” and center the show on a corrupt Gotham cop. The series was to be set one year before “The Batman” as the Gotham police force reckon with the emergence of Batman and its own internal corruption.

“It wasn’t going to be a Batman story, it was going about about this corrupt cop,” Reeves said the time. “And it was going to be about how the worst gang in Gotham were the GCPD. And [the cop] was going to come across paths, he would have touched paths with Gordon who would have been — it would have been someone to measure him against. But it would be a battle for [the cop’s] soul.”

When the project failed to get off the ground, Reeves pivoted to another spinoff idea centered on Arkham Asylum. Antonio Campos came onboard to serve as writer and showrunner of this series, but Variety reported earlier this month that plans for the show had been scrapped.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Reeves said these two ideas for spinoff series were tabled once executives at HBO offered their guidance for where “The Batman” universe should go in its move to television.

“They were like, ‘We like what you’re doing, and we want to lean harder into the marquee characters,'” Reeves said, adding that elements from the axed Gotham PD show ended up finding their way into “The Penguin.”

“What’s interesting is that, in the movie, the big red herring of the story is it seems like the person they’re looking for, that the Riddler’s pointing to must be the Penguin, some kind of informant,” Reeves explained. “This movie creates a power vacuum, and because Penguin is so underestimated, people don’t really see who he is.”

“The Penguin” is set one week after the conclusion of “The Batman.” Head writer and showrunner Lauren LeFranc told EW that the show is “the bridge between the two films,” referring to Reeves’ upcoming “The Batman Part II.” That sequel won’t land in theaters until 2026.

“We’re going almost directly into the second film Matt has planned,” LeFranc added.

“The Penguin” is set to premiere on HBO and stream on Max on Sept. 19. The show’s first season consists of eight episodes.