Bruce Timm and J.J. Abrams' BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER Animated Series Canceled at HBO Max
Damn you, Warner Bros. Discovery! Damn you to hell! The one Batman project that I was most excited about that was in development at the studio was Bruce Timm, J.J. Abrams, and Matt Reeves’ animated series Batman: Caped Crusader, and it was just canceled!
It was one of six animated projects that were axed. The others include Merry Little Batman, The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Toons Movie, Bye Bye Bunny: A Looney Toons Musical, Did I Do That To The Holidays: A Steve Urkel Story, and The Amazing World Of Gumball: The Movie.
Acclaimed comic book writer Ed Brubaker was also working on the series, the first season of which would have consisted of 10 episodes.
Timm previously talked about the show sharing that it is “more Batman: The Animated Series than Batman: The Animated Series." The show will capture what Timm was originally looking to do with the original animated series, saying, "It kind of goes back to the original principles of the show that we originally came up with in the early '90s. There were certain limitations on what we could do in terms of adult content; in terms of violence and adult themes." He went on to say, "My idea is basically to say, 'OK, it's 1990 again, I get to do what I want to do this time, and I got JJ and Matt backing me up."
Abrams said that Batman: Caped Crusader, "Really is an incredibly complex psychological story about someone who, in a way, needs to be redeemed – and that's kind of what at least this first season is about."
Brubaker said: “Their vision for the show, with a slightly more pulpy take on the character, and a new way of looking at the world of Gotham, set in the past but viewed through a modern lens really sold me, and so far every part of it has been a blast to work on. I can’t wait until the rest of the world can see what we’ve been building the last few months in the writers room. All I can say is, it’s not what anyone is expecting … but in a good way.”
The show would have focused on a version of Batman who is completely alone in his journey. Reeves explained, "There's not the Justice League. It doesn't exist. There aren't any other superheroes. It's Batman. You're watching this lone figure swimming through the cesspool of Gotham. It's Batman, alone."
It was also explained that Batman won’t have all of his gadgets as the show takes place before a time he started investing money in that stuff. "So he's going to be very low-tech, initially. You know, as he develops as a character, we'll start introducing those gadgets and the audience can see how he developed the Batmobile using different prototypes. That's part of the fun of this series is we're finding him discovering these things that, [in] most other Batman series, they already were there."
It’s a shame that this show isn’t going to get made and that we’ll never see what it could’ve been. This one really bums me out.
Source: TVLine