The Batman hasn't arrived in theaters yet (unless you caught one of those IMAX preview screenings last night), but two HBO Max spinoffs are already in the works. Colin Farrell will reprise the role of Oswald Cobblepot in a show exploring his rise up the ranks of Gotham City's criminal underworld as The Penguin, while we'd previously heard that the first of these spinoffs would focus on the GCPD.
At the first DC FanDome, Matt Reeves said the series is set during Year One as a "masked vigilante starts to unsettle the city," confirming plans to explore corruption that "goes back many years." The story, meanwhile, is said to take place from the point of view of one of Gotham's many corrupt cops.
However, we may now have an explanation for that "Arkham" working title revealed last August.
"We're doing this Penguin series and one of the great things about that is Colin Farrell - he’s like you’ve never seen him. He's so incredible and he's a scene-stealer. Along the way, we thought maybe we could do [it] as a series," Reeves told Toronto Sun. "So I talked to HBO Max and showed them Colin in the movie and spoke to them about what this could be and they said, 'Let's do it.'"
"We're doing that and we’re doing another series that connects to Arkham [Asylum]. We are talking and thinking about the next movie, but to be honest with you, at the moment, I really want the audience to connect with this. And I really believe they will because Rob is an incredible Batman.”
The fact that this apparent GCPD series will connect to Arkham Asylum promises to make it quite a bit different to what we initially suspected would be a slightly different take on FOX's Gotham. Exploring that mental institution could also lead to the introduction of some familiar rogues, particularly if Batman factors into the series while making his mark as a Caped Crusader in his city.
Either way, the untitled show is clearly going to explore the GCPD and Arkham, and that's definitely exciting. How it will tie into The Batman and this Batverse obviously remains to be seen for now.
The Batman arrives in theaters later this week!