Before The Penguin waddles into San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, Matt Reeves and producing partner Dylan Clark are here to reveal what could have been for the “Batman Epic Crime Saga” coming to theaters and television screens. While the plan to launch films and TV series set in the duo’s Bat-verse remains, they’ve needed to scrap plans for anticipated projects as WB continues to waffle over the Dark Knight’s focus. In addition to discussing the Penguin series, starring Colin Farrell as the up-and-coming crime kingpin Oswald Cobblepot, we’ve got a better picture of what the scrapped Gotham PD and Arkham Asylum series might have been.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Penguin showrunner Lauren LeFranc says the show is “a Scarface story.” No, not the Batman villain Scarface (I wish), but a rise-to-power narrative like Brian De Palma’s 1983 classic, which starred Al Pacino as Tony Montana. “It’s a rise-to-power story of Oz before he really makes it to the top.”
In addition to Penguin, Reeves wanted to explore the corruption in the Gotham Police Department in Gotham PD with Boardwalk Empire creator Terrance Winter. Another project that went up in flames was a show set inside Arkham Asylum, Gotham’s psychiatric center for the city’s most uniquely challenged and criminally insane individuals. “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 recalls. “It was actually why I wanted to make our deal at Warner Bros.”
Reeves says the WB executives offered guidance but ultimately passed on both projects in favor of developing shows focusing on marquee characters from the Batman universe. “They were like, ‘We like what you’re doing, and we want to lean harder into the marquee characters,'” Reeves notes. Thankfully, elements of what would have been Gotham PD make it into The Penguin. “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,” Reeves explains. “This movie creates a power vacuum, and because Penguin is so underestimated, people don’t really see who he is.”
He adds, “We wanted it to be, not in a grandiose way, but in a mythic Shakespearean way, this kind of great tale.”
We already know The Penguin bridges the gap between The Batman and its sequel, but what else can fans expect as Reeves and Clark explore Batman’s rich history and rogue’s gallery?
“There’s another television exploration we’re going to do,” Clark says. “We’re looking at this entire world as it relates to who Batman is — the antagonists around them, all the crime that has to be navigated in the city — and trying to figure out where are the areas that are best to explore.”
Damn. I would have liked to see Gotham PD and whatever the Arkham Asylum show would be. I understand why WB isn’t keen on doing a show about corrupt cops, but stories set in the GCPD are some of the best Batman has to offer. Don’t believe me? Read Gotham Central and GCPD: The Blue Wall. You’ll thank me later.