The Batman: TV Spin-Off Will Reportedly Focus on James Gordon
Brubaker's early 2000's comic series reportedly won't influence this new show.
The upcoming HBO Max Batman spinoff series, Gotham PD, will reportedly focus on James Gordon, forgoing using the Gotham Central comic by Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker as inspiration.
Brubaker, who co-wrote the 2002 police procedural comic Gotham Central, recently appeared on Kevin Smith’s Fatman Beyond podcast and shared what he knew about the upcoming HBO Max series, Batman News reports.
“I was like ‘maybe they’re really going to make Gotham Central this time,’ and so I reached out to a producer who works for Matt Reeves and he says, ‘no, that’s not really Gotham Central.’” Brubaker said. “They’re making sure that they don’t call it Gotham Central and it’s more of a spinoff from the movie. It’s like the James Gordon show.”
The Gotham PD series will serve as a prequel to director Matt Reeves’s 2022 Batman film (starring Robert Pattinson), set during the first year of the Dark Knight’s career as a hero. Reeves is currently producing the series, which has struggled to hold onto a showrunner. Current showrunner, Joe Barton, previously created and wrote an eight-episode crime thriller Giri/Haji for BBC Two and Netflix. He also wrote 2017’s supernatural horror film The Ritual.
Brubaker’s comments suggest that Jeffrey Wright, who plays Gordon in Reeves’ Batman, may play the officer again in the spinoff series, but no casting information has been announced as of yet.
Further details about the Gotham PD spinoff remain scarce, with no release date announced, and Reeves’ Batman film suffering delays due to COVID-19.
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Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/dork knight for IGN.
