'The Batman' spin-off is a Gotham-set prequel about corrupt cops

A spin-off TV series, set in the same world as Matt Reeves’ upcoming The Batman, will chart Batman’s first year as a crimefighter from the perspective of the police, it has been revealed.

Although not centred on Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne, the HBO Max show will deal with the myth of the Dark Knight “building in the background” and will be told from the perspective of corrupt Gotham City PD cops.

Talking as part of DC FanDome, an online fan event held on 22 August, Reeves said the show – rumoured to be titled Gotham PD – will “go back to Year One… the first emergence, the first appearance of this masked vigilante that starts to unsettle the city”. The film, he explained, will cover Year Two of the billionaire’s career as the Caped Crusader.

Read more: The Batman first poster and logo

“You start to see the story through the POV of these corrupt cops, and one in particular. And the story is actually a battle for [the cop’s] soul.”

Reeves is playing a key part in bringing the show to screen, with Boardwalk Empire’s Terrence Winter writing the script.

“This is an amazing opportunity, not only to expand the vision of the world I am creating in the film, but to explore it in the kind of depth and detail that only a longform format can afford — and getting to work with the incredibly talented Terence Winter, who has written so insightfully and powerfully about worlds of crime and corruption, is an absolute dream,” Reeves said when the show was first announced in July.

HBO Max, also the home to the forthcoming Justice League: The Snyder Cut mini-series, is a streaming service that is only currently available in North America.

Zack Snyder confirmed the series would be aired internationally, which suggests it will find a UK broadcast home in due course, as we suspect will this new TV spin-off.