‘The Batman’ Director Matt Reeves On Why Arkham Asylum & Gotham PD Spinoffs Did Not Move Forward

Armando Tinoco
·2 min read

Matt Reeves started to create a whole universe with the release of 2022’s The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader.

The filmmaker is expanding the world with The Penguin, an HBO original series centered on Colin Farrell’s Oz Cobb, which will premiere on the premium cable network and Max in September.

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In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Reeves explains why two series he had been developing, set in what he calls the Batman Epic Crime Saga, had been canceled for now.

“As we were writing the movie [The Batman], I was like, ‘Hey, you know what? I think there are some cool shows that we could do,” Reeves told EW. “It was actually why I wanted to make our deal at Warner Bros.”

RELATED: DC’s Arkham Asylum Series From Antonio Campos Not Moving Forward At Max

Reeves and producing partner Dylan Clark had been working on a couple of series, one focusing on the Gotham Police Department and a second set in the Arkham Asylum. HBO executives gave Reeves notes and the filmmaker said that some elements will be making it into The Penguin.

“They were like, ‘We like what you’re doing, and we want to lean harder into the marquee characters,'” Reeves said.

He continued, “What’s interesting is that, in the movie, the big red herring of the story is it seems like the person they’re looking for, that the Riddler’s pointing to must be the Penguin, some kind of informant. This movie creates a power vacuum, and because Penguin is so underestimated, people don’t really see who he is.”

Reeves said he “wanted it to be, not in a grandiose way, but in a mythic Shakespearean way, this kind of great tale.”

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