This season, Gotham viewers have watched the story of what Gotham City was like before Batman showed up. Evidently this prequel formula has been successful, because now Warner Bros is putting another DC Comics prequel TV series into development, this time focusing on the Caped Crusader’s equally famous ally: Superman. However, unlike Gotham, which takes only a decade or so before Batman’s debut, this series will be turning the clock back much further. In the near-future, viewers will get to learn about the Man of Steel’s home planet in the appropriately-named Syfy series Krypton.
Taking place years before the Kal-El (Superman’s Kryptonian name) was born, the series will focus on the House of El, specifically Superman’s grandfather as he tries to “bring hope and equality to Krypton.” According to a press release, David S. Goyer, who is diving back into Superman lore after penning Man of Steel, will produce the series. Once Upon A Time scribe Ian Goldberg will write the pilot and will serve as an executive producer alongside Goyer. Krypton was rumored to be in development back in October, but no other details were listed. Of course, this won’t be the first Superman prequel series to have aired on television. Smallville, which aired from 2001-2011, followed Clark Kent before he put on the cape, although that series was more of a reimagining of the Superman mythos rather than a direct prequel.
This isn’t the only Superman-related DC TV project on the way. Earlier this year, Supergirl, a show about Kal-El’s cousins Kara Zor-El, earned a straight-to-series commitment from CBS. It hasn’t been revealed yet if the two shows will exist in the same universe. Krypton also joins TNT’s Titans as a DC property heading to cable television. Syfy tried to develop a DC TV series back in 2011 when they ordered a pilot based off time-traveling superhero Booster Gold that was written by Arrow executive producers Andrew Kreisberg and Greg Berlanti, but unfortunately nothing ever came of that project.
Unlike Gotham, Krypton won’t benefit from having the famous superhero be a small part of the narrative. Still, since Superman’s birth planet hasn’t been deeply explored in other media, it will likely be enough to draw curious viewers in. Through this show we’ll learn more about Kryptonian society, as well as the family that would eventually produce Earth’s greatest superhero. It remains to be seen whether the show will actually become a full-fledged series, but if it does, this will be a great opportunity for non-comic books fans to learn more about the planet that’s primarily famous for exploding and launching one of its sole survivors our way.
