It’s been a turbulent four years since the announcement of a spinoff to Matt Reeves’ The Batman, one originally designed as a look inside the Gotham City Police Department, but ultimately became an Arkham Asylum series. Well, it comes to an end today as Variety reports that Warner Bros. has canceled the MAX series before it ever got off the ground.
The news is somewhat surprising since Arkham Asylum was granted a series order by HBO for the MAX streaming service. It would’ve joined The Penguin as a tie-in to Reeves’ successful film, The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson.
There is still hope, however. Just months ago Antonio Campos (The Devil All the Time) was hired as showrunner of Arkham Asylum, and it’s his version that has been canned. DC Studios co-chief James Gunn has said the series will be part of his new DCU, and another version of Arkham Asylum could take shape that is more closely aligned with Gunn’s plans.
Development on the show has been bumpy to say the least. When it was still seen as a Gotham PD series, Terence Winter (The Sopranos) was in control, but he left over creative reasons and was replaced by Joe Barton, who left for similar reasons.
So it seems that finding a creative direction has always been an issue, and that Gunn is looking to go back to square one to finally sort this out. With Arkham set to be central in the anticipated Joker sequel, and Batman a key part of the DCU going forward, Gunn has big reasons to figure Arkham Asylum out once and for all.
