Right after the release of Matt Reeves’ “The Batman,” there seemed to be a rush over at Warner Bros. to expand the franchise into various TV series. We heard about a show that would eventually become “The Penguin” and then another about the Gotham City PD. Unfortunately, the latter never came to fruition. And when you hear what writer Terence Winter had to say about the show, it’s a damn shame.
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In an upcoming episode of The Playlist’s Bingeworthy podcast, where he talked about the new season of “Tulsa King,” Terence Winter spoke a bit about his Gotham City Police show that he was working on with Matt Reeves. It really does sound as if Winter had a real unique take on the show, but it just didn’t vibe with Reeves.
“The idea was that we were going to do a 1970s cop show— something that felt like [Sidney Lumet’s 1981 crime and police drama ‘Prince of the City,’ but in the Gotham City Police Department,” Winter explained. “It was going to have that [‘70s] 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. And this is the guy we meet in the present day who’s realizing that he’s kind of on the wrong side. 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.”
Winter said that “The Batman” writer/director Matt Reeves decided to take the series in a different direction.
“And 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.’”
Despite all the work put into it, Winter has no hard feelings about it all.
“And, you know, that’s great, good for them,” he said. ‘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.’ 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 Penguin is great. I agree with you. I think they did a great job.”
As it stands today, there’s only one spinoff of “The Batman” that is likely going to happen, “The Penguin.” In addition to the Gotham PD show, there was also reports of an Arkham Asylum series, which ended up getting re-developed as part of James Gunn’s forthcoming DCU before it was shelved. With the good reviews “The Penguin” is earning, however, there might be a chance that Warner Bros. aims to go back to “The Batman” well for another series.
In the meantime, if you want to see something made by Winter, you can watch Season 2 of “Tulsa King,” which debuted earlier this month on Paramount+.
-Additional reporting by Mike DeAngelo
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