Last month, we learned that Daredevil: Born Again is being creatively overhauled by Marvel Studios. Moving forward, the studio will hire proper showrunners to develop Disney+ projects in the same way other TV shows are created (until now, the studio has been approaching them like they're movies).
Talking at an event yesterday, HBO and Max Content CEO Casey Bloys shared his thoughts on so-called "superhero fatigue" as the cable network/streamer gears up to release a slate of DCU and Elseworlds TV shows.
"I don’t know that it’s necessarily tentpole fatigue as much as it is a sameness of storytelling," he told journalists. "I think the key, even within DC, is trying to tell different stories in different styles, to not try to do the same show over and over and over again."
"I would say Peacemaker is a very different show tonally than The Penguin. So, there’s not a uniformity to the storytelling and I think that helps."
Sharing his thoughts on Marvel Studios' recent woes, Bloys added, "Unfortunately, Marvel, as good as their shows are, there’s probably been a lot of them. That’s one of the advantages we have at Warner Bros. is it’s not just one set of stories. There’s a lot of stories you can go to."
Waller is currently in the works for Max, as is Peacemaker season 2, Paradise Lost, Booster Gold, Lanterns, and the animated Creature Commandos.
Then, there's The Penguin. A series spinning out of the events of Matt Reeves' The Batman, it started shooting back in March before production was suspended in June as a result of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Deadline now confirms its planned Spring 2024 premiere window has shifted to next Fall.
In terms of plot details, very little is known about the series. However, we expect it to follow Oswald Cobblepot's rise to power in Gotham, establishing him as the city's new crimelord ahead of The Batman II; whether he'll be that sequel's big bad remains to be seen, especially with The Joker locked up in Arkham.
Lauren LeFranc serves as The Penguin's writer, executive producer, and showrunner, while The Batman director Matt Reeves executive produces as well.
Colin Farrell, meanwhile, reprises his role as "Oz" and will also be joined in the series by Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni, Theo Rossi, Michael Zegen, James Madio, Scott Cohen, Rhenzy Feliz, Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo, and Deirdre O’Connell.
The Batman II is set to be released in theaters on October 3, 2025.