Matt Reeves' Arkham Asylum DC TV Series Has Been Scrapped
Matt Reeves and his team have been developing an Arkham Asylum series for Max for quite some time, but that project has been scrapped by Warner Bros.
The project was being developed by writer and showrunner Antonio Campos, and it was initially supposed to be set within the universe of Reeves‘ The Batman.
This version of the series will not move forward, but Variety reports that it’s possible “a new project set within the infamous Gotham City asylum could be developed in the future.”
Prior to this news, the last update we had what that James Gunn confirmed that Reeves’ untitled Arkham Asylum series will be set in his DCU.
Gunn responded to a post on social media asking if Reeves is working on any other DC projects apart from The Batman – Part II, The Penguin, and the untitled Arkham Asylum spin-off series.
Gunn confirmed those were the only titles that the filmmaker is currently developing. He then revealed that the Arkham series will be set in the upcoming DCU.
When asked for further clarification, Gunn said, “Yes. We love Matt as a director and producer so he’ll be producing stories both within his The Batman universe and within the DCU.”
I wonder if trying to incorporate Reeves’ Arkham Asylum series into the DCU led to the cancellation.
When previously talking about the Arkham series, Reeves said: “We’ve actually now [moved] more into the realm of exactly what would happen in the world of Arkham as it relates coming off of our movie and some of the characters and their origins… almost leaning into the idea of… it’s like a horror movie or a haunted house that is Arkham.
“The idea, again the way that Gotham is a character in the movie, I really want Arkham to exist as a character. You go into this environment and encounter these characters in a way that feels really fresh.
“And so in our work on Gotham, that story started to evolve, and it started feeling [like], ‘Wait, we should really lean into this.’ And then that’s kinda where that’s gone.”
That sounds like it would’ve been a really cool and interesting series. It’s a shame that WB and DC Studios scrapped it.