Coming off the successful release of The Batman, director Matt Reeves was confirmed to be working on a sequel, a spinoff television series for Max focusing on The Penguin and a second television series set to explore the grounds of Arkham Asylum.
All three projects were assumed to be Elseworlds titles, existing outside the confines of the DCU but that's not the case according to DC Studios co-chair James Gunn.
Taking to social media, Gunn shared that the Arkham Asylum series will be under the umbrella of the DCU- prompting fans to wonder how the show will tie into The Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
Back in March 2022, prior to the release of The Batman in theaters, Reeves first shared that his second television series would connect to Arkham Asylum. This update came after the show was first announced back in July 2020 as an untitled spinoff.
But it should be noted that the series actually started out as a show that focused on the Gotham City Police Department, partially inspired by Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka's 2002 Gotham Central comic book, with Reeves stating that during the show's development, it evolved into focusing more on Arkham Asylum.
"The GCPD 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," said Reeves.
Based on prior comments from Reeves, it certainly sounds as if the show was initially developed to tie into The Batman so it will be interesting to see if it was Gunn or Reeves who had the idea to connect it to the DCU.
Antonio Campos, who served as showrunner on HBO's critically-acclaimed limited series, The Staircase, is leading development on the Arkham Asylum TV show for Reeves. He replaced Terence Winter (Boardwalk Empire) who departed the show over creative differences.
It should be noted that there are unconfirmed and conflicting reports that Reeves has now circled back to developing his idea for a GCPD TV show, separate from the Arkham Asylum series. We'll wait for word from Gunn or Reeves before reporting on these rumors as fact.
However, it should be noted that in Gunn's post on Threads above, he makes no mention of the GCPD show, confirming that Reeves is only working on three Batman-related projects at the moment.
Gunn also states that the Arkham show was always developed with the DCU in mind.
The 8-episode spinoff, The Penguin, is currently scheduled to be released on Max in late-2024 while The Batman- Part II is slated to arrive in North American theaters on October 3, 2025.