Director Matt Reeves may have revealed that he is developing another The Batman spinoff series for HBO Max and it looks like it will be centered on Arkham Asylum.
During an interview with the Toronto Sun, Reeves gave a few updates on Colin Farrell’s The Penguin series, which was the second announced HBO Max spinoff after Gotham P.D., which will reportedly take place during Batman’s first year as a vigilante crime fighter from the perspective of GCPD’s during that time period. As that conversation was unfolding, Reeves brought up that another series will be heavily related to Arkham Asylum and that it is also in the development phase. It should be pointed out that Warner Bros. has not given the series a pilot or straight-to-series order at this time so this is merely Reeves mentioning his future plans for the franchise. Here is what he had to say:
“We’re doing this Penguin series and one of the great things about that is Colin Farrell — he’s like you’ve never seen him. He’s so incredible and he’s a scene-stealer. Along the way, we thought maybe we could do (his character) as a series. So I talked to HBO Max and showed them Colin in the movie and spoke to them about what this could be and they said, ‘Let’s do it.’ So we’re doing that and we’re doing another series that connects to Arkham (Asylum). We are talking and thinking about the next movie, but to be honest with you, at the moment, I really want the audience to connect with this. And I really believe they will because I think Rob is an incredible Batman.”
Reeves’ mention of the Arkham Asylum series was more of a casual drop without much detail provided but it’s certainly intriguing that more spinoffs could be developed for the HBO Max platform that will also tie into the film universe that they have created. It allows the creative team to expand and develop so many more stories without the confines of a theatrical runtime. I believe this is one of the smarter moves of the streaming services and it’s something that Marvel has also done with their Disney+ shows. It’s best to allow these two worlds to work together so the fans get the best stories possible. I do want to point out that Reeves COULD be referring to Gotham P.D. as the Arkham-related series but I feel like he would’ve differentiated between the two. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how this all progresses.
Arkham Asylum has always been a key component in a lot of Batman stories. The location is the mental institution that Batman’s foes frequently break out of. If Arkham Asylum is the focus of its own show, it would be the first time that the institution has been given this much focus via a live-action adaptation.
Do YOU think Matt Reeves is developing an Arkham Asylum-related spinoff series for HBO Max?