We’re going to have to cancel our visitor’s pass for Gotham City’s most notorious mental hospital. Via Variety, we’ve learned that the Max streaming service is not moving forward with the proposed Arkham Asylum series, which was formally announced back in late 2022. This would have been the first Batman-centric series set in James Gunn’s new DCU, not in The Batman universe, like the upcoming Penguin series. Antonio Campos was developing the series, which originally began as part of Matt Reeves’ universe, before switching gears. Apparently, DC Studios and Warner Bros. have not ruled out another take on the Arkham Asylum series in the future.
This series has gone through several permutations since 2020. Originally, it was a show about the Gotham P.D. That evolved into a show about Arkham Asylum itself, where Gotham City’s most mentally deranged criminals reside. So basically, every Batman foe is not named Catwoman or Ra’s al Ghul. Creators like Terrance Winter and Joe Barton came in to develop the project, but both left over creative differences. The last iteration from Antonio Campos was described as a “horror movie or haunted house that is Arkham.” That sounded pretty cool to us.
Recently, Matt Reeves discussed the canceled The Batman spinoffs, noting, “The things that we’re talking about [now] are evolved versions of those things. It’s not like that just didn’t work. It was like, we need to evolve this. I would describe it less as something that didn’t work out and more as something that is still along a path toward arriving at its destination.”
We think an Arkham-based series will see the light of day at some point. We’re just going to have to wait a bit longer.
Originally published on July 8, 2024.
