As we anticipate the return of the Dark Knight in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, which is hitting theaters next fall, Warner Bros has now announced his vision for Gotham City will also find a home on its streaming service HBO Max. The streaming service has put into development a new drama series set in the city’s police department. Reeves will be heading the television show with the creator of Boardwalk Empire and The Sopranos writer Terence Winter.
According to HBO Max, the studio is so confident in Matt Reeves’ 'noir' Batman universe – particularly the corruption of Gotham City – that the TV series is already being tapped to launch a new Batman universe across multiple platforms. Matt Reeves had this to say about expanding his coming DC film to HBO Max:
This is an amazing opportunity, not only to expand the vision of the world I am creating in the film, but to explore it in the kind of depth and detail that only a longform format can afford — and getting to work with the incredibly talented Terence Winter, who has written so insightfully and powerfully about worlds of crime and corruption, is an absolute dream.
Reeves’ take on The Batman is being described as something audiences “have never seen before” and Warner Bros is already betting fans will want to spend much more time in the city beyond the film itself. The untitled Gotham City series looks to be in good hands with 12-time Emmy-award nominee Terence Winter, who has explored themes of under-the-table crime with Boardwalk Empire and The Sopranos, penning the scripts.
The HBO Max show is also being produced by The Batman’s Dylan Clark and executive produced by Adam Kassan and Rafi Crohn of Amazon Prime’s Tales From The Loop. We’re certainly curious if the show will draw from the DC comic series Gotham Central, a police procedural comic-book series from the early ‘00s that featured Gotham detectives including Renee Montoya, who was recently portrayed by Rosie Perez in Birds of Prey.
Announcement of the series comes just as a larger conversation about police corruption has riddled recent headlines. Established shows set in police precincts including NBC’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine have been rethinking their portrayal of enforcement during the Black Lives Matter movement. The streaming service is also developing a Justice League Dark series, shows for Green Lantern, DC Super Hero High and an animated Aquaman series.
The 2021 film release is already set to introduce a slew of Gotham City’s rogues gallery with Colin Farrell’s Penguin, John Turturro’s Carmine Falcone, Paul Dano’s Riddler, and Zoe Kravitz's Catwoman among the cast. Jeffrey Wright will be playing Commissioner Gordon and Peter Sarsgaard has a role as District Attorney Gil Colson in the movie.
It’s unclear if this Gotham City series will implement these characters after they are established in The Batman and chances are we won’t know what to expect until Battinson gets his big screen debut. The movie hits theaters on October 1, 2021. Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more updates on the upcoming Gotham City series.
