HBO Max is expanding its growing DC television universe with a surprising pivot: a crime-driven “Jimmy Olsen” series led by the creative team behind “American Vandal.” According to new reporting, the project is in early development at DC Studios, with Skyler Gisondo set to reprise his role as Daily Planet photographer Jimmy Olsen. Season one will reportedly focus on the telepathic supervillain Gorilla Grodd, marking one of the more unexpected tonal combinations in the current DC live-action landscape.
The half-hour series—described as a grounded, investigative “DC crime” story filtered through the lens of Jimmy’s often-chaotic life on the margins of Metropolis—is being developed by Dan Perrault and Tony Yacenda, the duo responsible for the Emmy-nominated “American Vandal.” Their involvement signals a potential stylistic fusion: procedural structure, darkly comedic undertones, and character-driven mystery, all anchored in the gray zones of DC’s urban mythos rather than capes or cosmic threats.
Gisondo, who first played Jimmy in the James Gunn/Peter Safran-era “Superman,” will lead the series. His take—an earnest, slightly overwhelmed truth-seeker perpetually in the wrong place at the wrong time—earned praise when the film premiered. Building an entire series around that version of the character gives HBO Max its first spinoff directly tied to the new slate of interconnected DC stories.
Season one will use Gorilla Grodd, typically a Flash villain, as the central narrative engine, reframing the hyper-intelligent telepath as the focus of a larger conspiracy Jimmy stumbles into while chasing a lead. It’s a bold choice—Grodd has long been portrayed as a larger-than-life antagonist—but the creative team reportedly sees him as an opportunity to ground a comic-book villain inside a noir-inflected mystery about control, manipulation, and institutional corruption.
The show marks the second DC television project moving forward at HBO Max under the new regime, following the high-profile “Lanterns.” It also reflects a broader strategy from James Gunn and Peter Safran: diversify tone, scale, and format to avoid an all-superhero slate. A Jimmy Olsen investigative series—with comedic pedigree, a street-level POV, and a wildly unpredictable antagonist—fits neatly into that portfolio.
No director, episode count, or production timeline has been announced yet. The project remains in development, with more details expected once scripts are locked and casting beyond Gisondo is finalized. [THR]
