Matt Reeves’ DC expansion is called the ‘Batman Epic Crime Saga.’
According to Entertainment Weekly, The Batman director Reeves alongside producing partner Dylan Clark plan to launch a universe of movies and shows that branch from 2022’s The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader.
The first effort in this endeavor is The Penguin, which sees Colin Farrell reprise his role as Oz Cobb for HBO and Max’s upcoming TV series.
As already announced, The Penguin is set one week after The Batman and leads into the events of the upcoming The Batman 2. Reeves told EW that discarded spin-off ideas included a series focusing on the Gotham City Police Department and an Arkham Asylum concept, but HBO execs suggested he focus on “marquee characters” instead. Elements of the Gotham P.D. treatment are said to have made their way into The Penguin.
Meanwhile, Reeves said The Batman HBO Max series is on hold (“we’re not really doing that”) and wouldn’t be drawn on whether Pattinson’s Batman shows up in The Penguin. The Penguin lead writer and showrunner Lauren LeFranc was more chatty, however, saying the show is “the bridge between the two films,” pointing to 2026’s The Batman 2. “We’re going almost directly into the second film Matt has planned,” LeFranc said.
What else might The Batman Epic Crime Saga include? There’s another TV show in the works, apparently, but all Clark would say is this: “We’re looking at this entire world as it relates to who Batman is — the antagonists around them, all the crime that has to be navigated in the city — and trying to figure out where are the areas that are best to explore.”
The Batman Epic Crime Saga is separate to the DC Universe, which is led by DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn. Superman and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow are the only two films from the DCU currently in production, the former of which is the only DCU project with a release date at all: July 11, 2025.
Also in production is Peacemaker Season 2 (which will pick up right where Season 1 left off), Lanterns, and “a handful of animated projects” including Creature Commandos, which kicks off the DCU in December 2024.
Plenty of the DCU Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters is still being worked on behind the scenes, including films The Authority, The Brave and the Bold, and Swamp Thing. On the TV show front, DC Studios has Waller, Booster Gold, and the aforementioned Paradise Lost awaiting the green light.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
