New DC Universe Hits First Snag: Arkham Asylum-Centric TV Series Not Moving Forward at Max
New DC Universe Hits First Snag: Arkham Asylum-Centric TV Series Not Moving Forward at Max
The insanity of the crazy house will continue to be undocumented.
Well, this is intriguing. Less than ten days after losing exclusivity to Lanterns by the series’s move to linear HBO, Max is foregoing another series entirely that is part of the new DC Universe entirely. The streamer is not going forward with the Arkham Asylum-set series.
Considering the road the series has been on, it might just be as a mercy kill and there doesn’t seem to be anything nefarious at play. It seems to be a creative impasse more than a “we’re no longer committing to being the series’s home”. If the series concept does pop up again, it will likely be back at square one. Its last and most recent creative team was formed in October 2022 when Antonio Campos boarded as series writer and showrunner.
The Matt Reeves-produced series was originally announced in July 2020, three months into HBO Max's launch with a straight-to-series commitment. In its initial stages, it was focused on the Gotham Police Department of Reeves’s The Batman. Terrence Winter was attached to write and executive produce, but would depart just four months later. Joe Barton was soon brought on as writer but that didn’t last long either. He was still attached as producer. A March 2022 Reeves interview just after the release of The Batman marked the transformation into the Arkham Asylum show, which he described as being like a “horror movie or a haunted house that is Arkham.” Campos’s arrival was soon met by the regime shift to DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran, who took office at the start of November. Basically three months later at the very end of January they unveiled their slate for the new DC Universe they were crafting. The Arkham Asylum series wasn’t announced here, instead confirmed by Gunn to be an addition all the way later in December. Some sources have called it a clarification though it is unclear whether the shift happened at the premise change or the regime change.
The development stoppage leaves the DC Universe’s TV realm with Creature Commandos premiering in December, Peacemaker season 2, its further spinoff Waller, the aforementioned Lanterns, as well as Paradise Lost and Booster Gold that made up the initially-announced slate, plus a Blue Beetle animated series that transitions the DCEU’s Jaime Reyes iteration into the new universe. Meanwhile, the The Batman Elseworld has The Penguin on Max this fall and a sequel film in October 2026.
Source: Variety