The Batman director Matt Reeves confirmed that they are scrapping the Gotham PD spin-off show in favor of an Arkham-based series.
Back in July 2020, HBO Max announced that it had ordered a spinoff series based on The Batman that would focus on the Gotham Police Department. The show was slated to premiere on HBO Max, along with a Penguin spin-off series. Later on, Reeves reported that he is helping develop the Penguin, as well as an Arkham show. However he did not mention the Gotham PD series. Now Reeves has confirmed that Gotham PD has “evolved” into the Arkham show. Check out Reeves’ remarks on The Cyber Nerds podcast.
“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… almost leaning into the idea of… it’s like a horror movie or a haunted house that is Arkham”
Joe Barton on the Demise of Gotham PD
The former Gotham PD showrunner Joe Barton had some words about moving away from the police drama. On Twitter, Barton lamented how the show could have been special and holds out hope for it to get picked up in the future.
Guess if you post your wins you should also post your losses. Sadly adding this to the ‘ones that got away’ column. It really would have been something special. Hope Matt gets to make it one day. https://t.co/viLt2LsWVf
— Joe Barton (@JoeBarton_) March 7, 2022
Why Focus on Arkham?
Reeves went through the creative process of how the team arrived at an Arkham show. He stated how Gotham as a character was so important in the film and showing Arkham seemed like a natural extension of that.
“The idea, again the way that Gotham is a character in the movie, I really want Arkham to exist as a character,” the director continued. “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.'”
Sounds like it could be cool! While it is sad that Bat-fans won’t be able to see a police drama set in Gotham City, we maybe getting something equally interesting out of it.
There is no release dates set yet for the Arkham show on HBO Max. In the meantime, The Batman is now playing in theaters.
Source: cbr.com
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