James Gunn has confirmed DC’s Arkham Asylum series is well and truly dead.
While there’s “hope… sure,” that Arkham Asylum may one day see the light of day, “that isn’t something that is being developed by anyone right now,” the DC Studios co-CEO told BobaTalks in a new interview.
Why? “You know, it just didn’t work,” is all Gunn would offer.
Confirmation from Gunn himself comes over a year after it was reported that HBO Max would no longer move forward with the Arkham Asylum series. Antonio Campos had signed on as showrunner back in October 2022, with the intention of setting Arkham Asylum within Matt Reeves’ ‘Batman Epic Crime Saga,’ but Variety reported last year that his version of story was dead. However, Variety also suggested a story set within Gotham’s twisted asylum could still come to fruition in the future. Gunn’s comments suggest if that does happen, it will be a long time coming.
The Arkham Asylum series was announced in 2020 and originally had nothing to do with the iconic Batman location. Instead, the show was sold as a story centered on the Gotham City Police Department and set before the events of The Batman. One year (and one showrunner) later and the show was said to feature James Gordon, but director Matt Reeves then stated in 2022 that the GCPD show would focus on Arkham Asylum. Gunn eventually clarified that the Arkham Asylum series was separate from the world of The Batman and would take place within the company’s new universe, the DCU.
In March 2022, three weeks after The Batman’s release, Matt Reeves and Warner Bros. released a highly anticipated deleted scene featuring Barry Keoghan’s Joker — officially credited as “Unnamed Arkham Prisoner” — meeting with Robert Pattinson’s Batman in a Hannibal Lecter/Clarice Starling-type exchange. Reeves explained what he was going for in an interview with IGN.
While Arkham Asylum is dead, there are a number of confirmed projects in the works at DC Studios. The Batman 2 is of course due out in 2027. There is an expectation that The Penguin will get a Season 2 at some point, too.
As for Gunn’s DCU, next year will see Supergirl and Clayface hit theaters, while Lanterns will release on HBO Max. Looking further ahead, 2027 will see Gunn’s Superman follow-up, Man of Tomorrow, continue the overarching DCU story.
Speaking of which, Gunn has also this week confirmed that his “big bad” isn’t Darkseid, prompting questions about who will be the DCU’s Thanos equivalent.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
