HBO Max, AT&T’s burgeoning streaming service has just amped up the interest in the upcoming Batman movie with the reveal of a “companion series” to the show. The show, which remains untitled at the moment, will center on the law enforcement of Gotham as they deal with the colorful characters in the city.
The new series will have Terence Winter as its showrunner. Winter previously produced one of the biggest TV series and most acclaimed shows to date, Broadwalk Empire. So this is a big get for DC Entertainment.
The series will take a mature grounded approach to the crime in Gotham. Winter won four Emmys during his tenure on HBO’s The Sopranos, twice for Outstanding Drama Series and twice for Writing for a Drama Series.
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He created the HBO drama Boardwalk Empire, which ran for five seasons and earned Winter two additional Drama Series Emmy nominations. He was nominated for an adapted screenplay Academy Award for The Wolf of Wall Street starring Leonardo DeCaprio.
Matt Reeves, the director of the upcoming Batman movie is also involved in the project as a showrunner. In a statement, he said:
“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.”
Gotham PD promises a lot
Gotham PD Series From Matt Reeves, Terence Winter Set in ‘The Batman’ World Ordered at HBO Max https://t.co/O9B7fOoc9N
— Variety (@Variety) July 10, 2020
As we all know Batman’s mythos is filled with a number of amazing characters, most notably the hero’s villains are fairly well known even to non superhero film fans. This gives WB a chance to show those characters on their TV show, develop them properly before shifting them to the big screen. This could mean that we see the origins of many Batman antagonists on the show though from what Deadline has revealed the show will keep its focus on the members of Gotham’s Police Department. A comic series by the name of Gotham PD was once run by DC comics and there is speculation that the show will loosely adapt that.
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Warner Bros TV recently explored the Batman universe with another series set at the Gotham Police Department, Fox’s Gotham, which was set primarily in a time frame prior to Bruce Wayne becoming Batman. Like this new show, that too was a prequel however the key differences is not only in cast and showrunners but also in that this series will be in the same universe as the new Batman movie. There is no word yet on if Robert Pattinson’s Batman will make an appearance but it is considered likely that Jeffery Wright will appear as Jim Gordon in the show among the leading characters.
Update: HBO Max's Gotham PD series will be a prequel to Matt Reeves' upcoming film 'The Batman'. https://t.co/tgpV3Xh31H pic.twitter.com/UYzRDgNQ3B
— IGN (@IGN) July 11, 2020
The upcoming Batman film has already cast a plethora of actors in key roles such as Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, Colin Farrell as Penguin, Paul Dino as the Riddler and Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth. There is thus a big possibility of them guest starring in the show in some capacity.
The new HBO show is just one of many that HBO Max has greenlight for its service. In addition to this series, the service is bringing a big budget Green Lantern series, a show about Justice League Dark as well as the eagerly awaited Zack Snyder rendition of 2017’s Justice League film.