The Gotham Police Department spin-off of The Batman is on indefinite hiatus, Matt Reeves confirmed during an interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast. HBO Max announced the series in July 2020, led by Batman director Reeves and Boardwalk Empire creator Terence Winter. Winter left the project in November 2020 and was replaced by Joe Barton in January 2021. Rumors of creative differences swirled around Winter’s departure, and now Reeves has confirmed that HBO Max disagrees with the show’s original plan.
“One thing we’re not doing, I was going to do is the Gotham cop show, which is actually postponed,” Reeves said. “We don’t actually do that.”
Reeves said that the original plan for the Gotham City Vice series was to take inspiration from Sidney Lumet’s “Prince of the City” and center the show on a corrupt Gotham cop. The series takes place a year before The Batman, as the Gotham police force has to reckon with the arrival of Batman and their own corruption.
“It wasn’t supposed to be a Batman story, it was about this corrupt cop,” Reeves said. “And it was supposed to be that the worst gang in Gotham was the GCPD. As well as [the cop] was going to stumble on the road, he’d come into contact with Gordon, who would be–there would be someone to compare him to. But it will be a battle for [the cop’s] soul.”
Reeves said the idea was “very cool, [but] they didn’t like the idea, they just wanted to focus the show on a character that was more – I get it”, hinting at the studio’s desire to focus the show on a less corrupted protagonist. “So I thought, okay. So maybe someday we’ll do that show.”
Barton weighed in on Twitter about the idea of the Gotham Police Department, writing: “I think if you post your wins, you should also post your losses. Unfortunately, adding this to the “those who left” column. It really would be something special. I hope Matt gets it right someday.”
There won’t be a Gotham Vice series, but that doesn’t mean Batman won’t get a TV spin-off. Reeves revealed on Cyber Nerds that the spin-off has now turned into an Arkham Asylum series.
“Actually we are now [moved] more in the realm of what exactly is going to happen in the world of Arkham, as it has to do with our film, some of the characters and their origins… almost leaning towards the idea… it’s like a horror movie or a haunted house, which is Arkham. “The idea, again, like Gotham is a character in a movie, I really want Arkham to exist as a character. You go into that environment and encounter those characters in a way that feels really new. So, in our work on Gotham, that story began to develop, and it began to feel [like]”Wait, we really have to build on that.” And then it disappeared somewhere.”
Arkham is one of two Batman-based series that just topped the U.S. box office, grossing $134 million on its debut. Colin Farrell’s character Penguin will get his own series on HBO Max, written by Lauren LeFrank and executive produced by Reeves.
I think if you publish your wins, you should also publish your losses. Unfortunately, adding this to the “those who left” column. It really would be something special. Hope Matt gets it right someday. https://t.co/viLt2LsWVf
— Joe Barton (@JoeBarton_) March 7, 2022
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