A planned series in DC’s Batman universe centered on Arkham Asylum is not moving forward at Max for now, Deadline has confirmed.
The potential Arkham series was being overseen by The Staircase creator Antonio Campos, who was showrunner-executive producer and also a director.
We hear that the project is not necessarily dead. Campos had signed onto the series under the previous DC regime, before James Gunn and Peter Safran took over DC Films.
In a similar way, as Deadline revealed exclusively last month, Blue Beetle is set to continue via an animated series building on the movie, which was developed under DC Studios’ previous regime, but will divert from telling the same story. Instead, the show will create its own story which, in success, could potentially lead to a return to the big screen for the giant blue bug portrayed by Xolo Maridueña.
Gunn had confirmed late last year that The Batman director Matt Reeves was helping develop the potential series, which would be set in the new DC Universe known as Chapter One: Gods and Monsters.
The Arkham series was set to have joined that new DCU that so far includes Reeves’ The Batman II, the sequel to the 2022 hit that starred Robert Pattinson and the Caped Crusader, and The Penguin, the Max series spinning off from the movie with Colin Ferrell back as the iconic Batman villain. The latter eight-episode series, a Max Original, is gearing up for a September premiere.
Gunn said in December that the Arkham series “was one of the first pitches we bought when Peter and I came onboard.” It centers on Gotham City’s Arkham, the psychiatric hospital/prison where some of Batman’s most notorious foes are housed.
The Arkham series was being produced by Reeves’ 6th & Idaho in association with Warner Bros Television. Reeves, Joe Barton and The Batman producer Dylan Clark are executive producers, alongside 6th & Idaho’s Daniel Pipski and Adam Kassan. 6th & Idaho’s Rafi Crohn is a co-executive producer.
It is based on the Batman characters created for DC by Bob Kane with Bill Finger.
Variety was first to report on the Arkham Asylum series news today.