Boardwalk Empire creator/showrunner Terence Winter was set to expand Matt Reeves’ The Batman universe further, but plans didn’t pan out. Set to be based on the Gotham Central comic, Winter was attached to a proposed TV spinoff for several months before exiting in late 2020; Joe Barton took over showrunner duties before we’d later see the entire show ultimately scrapped.
Appearing on The Playlist’s Bingeworthy podcast, Winter opened up about inspiration and the drama from his attempted Gotham PD series.
“The idea was that we were going to do a 1970s cop show – something that felt like [Sidney Lumet’s] Prince of the City but in the Gotham City Police Department,” says Winter. “It was going to have that [1970s] feel. It was going to be a present-day cop who is like a third-generation Gotham City cop, you know, his grandfather, his dad, and, you know, and Gotham City was largely corrupt.”
“This is the guy we meet in the present day who’s realizing that he’s kind of on the wrong side,” he continued. “The Batman was somebody that lived in that world, but you never really saw him. And it was really all about the police department and sort of this guy.”
As for the fallout, he notes: “I worked on it for a while. And ultimately, you know, Matt wasn’t feeling it. And I left; I know they brought in another guy after me. I can’t remember his name, the guy who did Tokyo Vice. He worked for a while on it, but that didn’t go anywhere. I have no idea what he did. And then I read about The Penguin. And, you know, that’s great, good for them. Like I said, you know, it was Matt’s idea originally, and, you know, more power to [him]. Sometimes, you’re in sync creatively; sometimes, you’re not. Or you get off on the wrong foot thinking, ‘Oh, we should do this and go, Oh, you know what, this is just not really working.'”
SEE ALSO: The Penguin Episode 1 Review – ‘After Hours’
There doesn’t seem to be any ill will, though, with Winter concluding, “Also, because there was Gotham, the show Gotham certainly took place in New York City, in the Gotham City Police Department, rather. [It] kind of stepped on the toes of our idea a little bit, even though ours was going to be totally very different. I think The Penguin is great. I agree with you. I think they did a great job.”
The Penguin is currently airing on HBO and streaming on Max.
