It sounded like Matt Reeves had big plans for an HBO Max series following a corrupt cop in Gotham City during Batman's "Year One," but work on that project has been paused for now. Remember, The Batman director has previously said The Penguin's show is moving along a little quicker, while also stating that "we're doing another series that connects to Arkham [State Hospital]."
Talking to Josh Horowitz (check out the excerpt from their conversation in the Tweet below), Reeves confirmed that the GCPD spinoff is now "on hold." Apparently, it was going to follow a corrupt cop and would have included Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon; however, Warner Bros. wanted the focus to be on a known character, hence why we're going to be following Oz's rise to power.
In a separate conversation on The Cyber Nerds podcast, the filmmaker suggested that story ideas from the GCPD show could be folded into the one focusing on Arkham.
"The GCDP thing, that story has story has kinda evolved. We've actually now [moved] more into the realm of exactly what would happen in the world of Arkham as it relates coming off of our movie, and some of the characters...it's like a horror movie or a haunted house that is Arkham."
"The idea, again the way that Gotham is a character in the movie, I really want Arkham to exist as a character. You go into this environment and encounter these characters in a way that feels really fresh. And so in our work on Gotham, that story started to evolve, and it started feeling [like], 'Wait, we should really lean into this.' And then that's kinda where that's gone."
If you've seen The Batman, chances are you'll be able to figure out what Reeves is talking about. This likely means it won't be set during "Year One," though we do hope that the GCPD idea will be revisited at some point. These comments definitely provide some insight into what Warner Bros. is thinking when it comes to these HBO Max spinoffs, and an unknown cop's story clearly isn't considered a draw.
The Batman is now playing in theatres worldwide.