THE BATMAN: Terence Winter Reveals New Details About His Scrapped '70s-Inspired GCPD TV Series

THE BATMAN: Terence Winter Reveals New Details About His Scrapped '70s-Inspired GCPD TV Series

The Batman's first spin-off wasn't meant to be The Penguin; instead, it was a series set in the GCPD. Now, Boardwalk Empire's Terence Winter has shared more details about his approach to the project...

By JoshWilding - Sep 24, 2024 06:09 AM EST
Filed Under: The Batman

The Penguin launched on HBO/Max last week, but the original plan was for The Batman to get a spin-off revolving around a corrupt cop in Gotham P.D. during the Dark Knight's first year in the city. 

Boardwalk Empire's Terence Winter was attached to develop the project, though he'd later leave due to creative differences. Joe Barton came on board to replace him, only to run into similar issues before the series was reconfigured into a story set in Arkham Asylum...which also failed to materialise (attempts were made to make it part of the DCU before it was scrapped).

The Playlist's Bingeworthy podcast recently had Winter as a guest and he elaborated on where things went wrong for him and "The Batman Epic Crime Saga" architect Matt Reeves. 

"The idea was that we were going to do a 1970s cop show - something that felt like ‘Prince of the City’ but in the Gotham City Police Department," Winter explained. "It was going to have that ['70s] feel. It was going to be a present day cop who is like a third generation Gotham City cop, his grandfather, his dad, and Gotham City was largely corrupt."

"And this is our guy who we meet in the present day, who’s realizing that he’s kind of on the wrong side. The Batman was somebody that kind of lived in that world, but you never really saw him. And it was really all about the police department and sort of this guy."

As for why it didn't pan out, Winter added, "I worked on it for a while. And ultimately, Matt [Reeves] wasn’t feeling it. And I left."

It's a shame the show failed to materialise, but this sounds an awful lot like a prestige Gotham and, ultimately, how interesting would it be to follow another honest cop in Gotham City? We get that via Jim Gordon and, with no Batman in the show, this might have been a hard sell. 

However, it seems this wasn't a story Reeves wanted to tell or one he felt added to the world he's created with The Batman franchise. We'd imagine The Penguin will address the state of the GCPD in some way after Carmine Falcone's fall and The Batman - Part II is bound to continue exploring the dynamic between the Dark Knight and Jim. 

Do you think it was a mistake to scrap Winter's spin-off? As always, let us know in the comments section.

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TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 9/24/2024, 6:45 AM
I think it could have been interesting , especially if they borrowed some cues from Gotham Central & such but I’m ultimately not too bummed it didn’t happen either.

I do hope it was going to be a comic character as the lead rather than an OC , like you could have made Harvey Bullock or Jim Carrigan a third generation cop in this version etc.

Also using “Prince Of the City” as an influence was good since that is about a corrupt cop who after a crisis of conscience decides to turn honest and help IA take down the others in the department (was also based on a true story) but oh well.

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harryba11zack
harryba11zack - 9/24/2024, 7:16 AM
glad it was Scrapped. not interested in another batman show without batman,
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 9/24/2024, 7:26 AM
"It had that 1970's feel" "We wanted to evoke 1970s cop thrillers" "1970s New York" "A 1970s atmosphere" "1970s" "'70s...""'70s...""late '70s early '80s urban...""blabbedity blah blah blah" "like a 1970s film...""...Robert Redford"
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"It was going to have that '70s feel. It was going to be a present day cop."

Batmangina
Batmangina - 9/24/2024, 7:28 AM
Damn. We need more shows about characters without those characters in them.

They should have been doing this for decades - how badass would have been if Three's Company or Laverne and Shirley lived in the MCU?

Like Lenny and Squiggy run in without knocking because Stilt Man just came around the corner? RATINGS BONANZA
dragon316
dragon316 - 9/24/2024, 7:57 AM
Cop show with no Batman but there’s bat signal
JustAWaffle
JustAWaffle - 9/24/2024, 8:53 AM
@dragon316 - There’s one crazy cop on the show who is always expecting the Batman to show up, but he doesn’t exist, so he gets sent to Arkham.
McMurdo
McMurdo - 9/24/2024, 1:01 PM
Sounds like Reeves wants to rip it for Batman 2 Court of Owls where Bruce realizes his family's root in corruption goes deeper than he had realized. So he kicked Winter to the curb.
NinnesMBC
NinnesMBC - 9/25/2024, 2:00 AM
I would've liked to see that before a Penguin show. Sigh.

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