DC's Canceled BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER Animated Series Receiving Interest From Other Streaming Services
Last week we got the disappointing news that Warner Bros. canceled DC’s highly anticipated series Batman: Caped Crusader. The series was being developed for HBO Max by Bruce Timm, J.J. Abrams, and Matt Reeves and acclaimed comic book writer Ed Brubaker was writing it.
Well, I’ve got some hopeful news for you today! Batman: Caped Crusader is receiving interest from a number of different streaming services, and there’s a good chance the show will actually live! The project is currently being shopped around by Warner Bros. Animation and Apple, Hulu, and Netflix all have “intense interest” in the series!
The news comes from THR, who says, “It’s not a quality issue, but an economic and strategic issue. It is believed that the various Warners divisions making the show and movies will make more money on the titles by selling them to other outlets than having them on Warners’ own streamer.”
Some of the other canceled projects being shopped around 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.
But, it’s Batman: Caped Crusader that is getting the most interest, which is great to hear. If this is really the case, then getting picked up shouldn’t be an issue.
Timm 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."
Are you happy to hear this recent news?
