With HBO’s The Penguin ending this weekend, Matt Reeves is looking forward to expanding the universe started in The Batman. Reeves was interviewed by Andy Serkis, who played Alfred in the 2022 film, for Interview Magazine. The filmmaker confirms, “Yeah, we have been talking” about follow-ups, and teases they’d be much like The Penguin.
“We have been talking about doing other shows. I wanted to make sure that we didn’t do the origin tale, which so many of the other series have done. I think the idea of being able to put a lens on these characters is a really exciting idea,” Reeves reveals.
He adds, “It’s about cities and their dysfunction and the world and its dysfunction, which is what Batman stories are all about. They’re all about Gotham being a place that should be better. And you can have the experience of this almost novelistic epic crime saga, but you also just get these separate experiences. They have their own dramatic value. So Oz’s story is Oz’s story, and the idea is to do these other stories in the same way.”
One factor to Matt Reeves loving these spin-offs of The Batman stems from more creative freedom: “It’s interesting because in a Batman movie, there are resources that are tremendous, so we’re able to do quite grand things, but we are handcuffed in other ways. When we were dealing with the ratings board, they were like, ‘You got to pull that back and this back.’ But with HBO, those handcuffs were removed. It gave us the ability to be really character-forward. Even just the way that Oz can be so deliciously profane.”
SEE ALSO: The Penguin prosthetics designer talks Colin Farrell’s now-iconic look
One project that isn’t happening however is the recently rumoured Joker spinoff series featuring Barry Keoghan, with DC chief James Gunn posting on Threads to state: “No there is absolutely no truth to this. A Joker series is not being discussed nor has even come up at this time. Sorry.”
Would you like to see the world of The Batman expanded through further spinoffs? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
