As one of the crown jewels in the Warner Bros. library, HBO Max was always destined to boast a huge lineup of DC content, but even the most optimistic of fans will have been pleasantly surprised by the sheer volume of shows on the horizon. After all, as well as assuming production duties on Doom Patrol and Titans, and giving the green light to Zack Snyder’s four-episode Justice League event, there’s plenty more coming down the pipeline.
Greg Berlanti’s Green Lantern, J.J. Abrams’ Justice League Dark, Matt Reeves’ prequel spinoff to The Batman, a solo show for John Cena’s Peacemaker from The Suicide Squad and an Aquaman animated miniseries produced by James Wan are all in various stages of development, while many others have been rumored over the last few months.
Jared Leto’s Joker has been one of just several characters linked with getting the small screen treatment as well, but we’ve now heard from our sources – the same ones that told us both the Justice League Dark and Green Lantern shows were in the works – that HBO Max is exploring the possibility of a TV series set in the world inhabited by Joaquin Phoenix’s Clown Prince of Crime.
According to our intel, Phoenix isn’t being pursued to headline the project, but it’ll take place in the same universe as Todd Phillips’ R-rated Joker with the door left open for a cameo from the aforementioned actor. The premise, meanwhile, will focus on other well known DC villains who occupy the same territory as Arthur Fleck, which admittedly sounds pretty exciting, and it’ll also take a look at some of the Gotham citizens who were influenced by Fleck and his actions.
Phillips previously admitted that he’d love to see how Batman would turn out in his decaying vision of 1980s Gotham, and with the city already on the verge of collapse in Joker, exploring what the rest of the Dark Knight’s rogues’ gallery have been getting up to during the same time period could turn out to be something special.