‘The Batman’ Spinoff Series Coming to HBO Max
Warner Bros. has officially announced that a spinoff of Matt Reeve’s upcoming The Batman film is coming to HBO Max. Read on for the full press release.
HBO Max announced today that it has given a series commitment to an original DC drama set in the Gotham City police department from The Batman filmmaker Matt Reeves, Boardwalk Empire creator Terence Winter, The Batman producer Dylan Clark, and Warner Bros. Television.
The groundbreaking television series to be written by Winter is set in the world Reeves is creating for The Batman feature film and will build upon the motion picture’s examination of the anatomy of corruption in Gotham City, ultimately launching a new Batman universe across multiple platforms.
The series provides an unprecedented opportunity to extend the world established in the movie and further explore the myriad of compelling and complex characters of Gotham. This marks the first television project for Reeves under his recently announced overall deal with the Warner Bros. Television Group.
Matt Reeves 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.”
“We are so fortunate to have such great partners in Matt, Dylan, and Terry and unprecedented access to a wealth of IP from our partners at Warner Bros. and DC,” said Sarah Aubrey, head of original content, HBO Max.
“Our collaboration with Warner Bros. and DC allows us to elaborate and grow fan connections across these powerful brands for years to come. This is Batman as most audiences have never seen before and we know fans will want to spend more time in this new world inspired by the film,” added Kevin Reilly, chief content officer, HBO Max, president TNT, TBS, and TruTV.
Reeves’ 6th & Idaho production company will produce the series in association with Warner Bros. Television. Reeves and Emmy® winner/Oscar® nominee Winter (The Sopranos, The Wolf of Wall Street) will executive produce with Clark (Bird Box, Rise, Dawn, and War for Planet of the Apes). The drama, which is based on characters created for DC by Bob Kane with Bill Finger, will also be executive produced by 6th & Idaho’s Daniel Pipski (From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series) and Adam Kassan (Tales from the Loop); Rafi Crohn (Tales from the Loop) will co-executive produce. Warner Bros. International Television Distribution will distribute the series globally.
Reeves is currently at the helm of Warner Bros. Pictures’ The Batman, which will be released in October 2021. He previously co-wrote and directed War for the Planet of the Apes, directed Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, wrote and directed Let Me In, and directed Cloverfield, among other films. Recent 6th & Idaho television series include Amazon Prime Video’s Tales from the Loop, starring Rebecca Hall and Jonathan Pryce; the upcoming Netflix drama Away, starring Hilary Swank; and FOX’s The Passage. Reeves previously co-created (with J.J. Abrams) and executive produced the hit series Felicity, directing the pilot and several additional episodes.
Winter was nominated for 12 Emmy® Awards and won four during his tenure on the landmark HBO drama series The Sopranos, twice for Outstanding Drama Series and twice for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. He created the HBO drama Boardwalk Empire, which ran for five seasons and earned Winter two additional Outstanding Drama Series Emmy® nominations. He was nominated for an adapted screenplay Academy Award® for writing the Best Picture–nominated film The Wolf of Wall Street, directed by Martin Scorsese, who had previously helmed the Boardwalk Empire pilot. He and Scorsese subsequently co-created (with Mick Jagger and Rich Cohen) the HBO drama Vinyl.
Plot details The Batman are unknown as of this writing, but last September, Kevin Smith said The Batman would adapt The Long Halloween, which has surprisingly not picked up much traction but is too good of a reason, even if it’s only possible at this point, for us to keep a close watch as this project comes into light.
The classic 13-issue comic book story The Long Halloween follows a killer named Holiday who murders people on every holiday for a year, from Halloween to the next Halloween, and it also features many of Batman’s iconic villain characters that are now confirmed to be appearing in the upcoming film. Of course, even if it adapts the story it will likely be a “loose” adaptation at best, and may even ignore the whole holiday aspect of it.
Principal photography of The Batman started on Jan. 28, and is currently halted due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.
The film is directed by Matt Reeves from a script he co-wrote with Mattson Tomlin, starring Robert Pattinson as Gotham City’s vigilante detective and billionaire Bruce Wayne, along with Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle; Paul Dano as Edward Nashton; Jeffrey Wright as the GCPD’s James Gordon; John Turturro as Carmine Falcone; Peter Sarsgaard as Gotham D.A. Gil Colson; Jayme Lawson as mayoral candidate Bella Reál; Andy Serkis as Alfred; and Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot.
The Batman is scheduled to arrive in theaters on October 1, 2021.
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