During an interview with Access Hollywood Live, former Dick Grayson Chris O’Donnell has revealed that Warner Bros. intended to develop a spin-off that would have seen him reprising his role as Robin from Batman Forever and Batman & Robin: “They were going to do [a Robin movie] back in the day and then [Batman & Robin] was such a bomb, they were like, ‘Scrap that!’… That was the end of that.”
After lining up as the Boy Wonder alongside Val Kilmer in 1995’s Batman Forever, O’Donnell and George Clooney took on the title roles of the Dynamic Duo in Joel Schumacher’s 1997 sequel, Batman & Robin, to tackle the villainous pairing of Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman).
Despite turning a profit, the fourth instalment of Warner’s Batman series was universally panned by fans and critics, and is widely regarded as one of the worst comic book adaptations of all-time. As a result of Batman & Robin’s failure, the studio also scrapped plans for a fifth Batman movie (tentatively titled Batman Triumphant), and it would be another eight year’s before The Dark Knight returned to screens courtesy of Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins.
Now that the ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy has drawn to a close with the release of The Dark Knight Rises, the door remains open for the possibility of another Robin-centred spin-off, although with Nolan calling time on his stewardship of the lucrative franchise, it seems unlikely at this point that we’ll get to see Joseph Gordon-Levitt donning the tights for a potential follow-up.
Holy Franchise, Batman! Bringing the Caped Crusader to the Screen – Available now via Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com
Originally published September 16, 2012. Updated November 6, 2019.
