HBO Max Confirmed to Cancel DC Series Strange Adventures From Greg Berlanti
The onscreen future of the stories of DC Comics has been debated a lot as of late, following Warner Bros. Discovery's unprecedented cancelling of the already-completed Batgirl movie. With Batgirl initially set to debut on the HBO Max streaming service, the fate of other DC-inspired projects in development at the streamer has been called into question at the streamer — and now we know the ultimate ending of one. On Tuesday, Variety confirmed that Strange Adventures, an anthology series originally developed for the streamer in 2019, has been cancelled. This comes after director Kevin Smith indicated that the series was cancelled during a recent appearance on the Hollywood Babble-On podcast, after revealing that he had been brought on to develop a standalone episode of the series alongside Supergirl writer Eric Carrasco.
"I got a call the other day from Eric before all of this story broke and he was just like 'Strange Adventures is officially dead,'" Smith explained on the podcast. "And I was like 'What the f-ck, are you serious?!'"
"I thought Strange Adventures being a causality kind of made sense to me," Smith continued. "Nobody necessarily knows these characters; it sounded like an expensive show."
Smith revealed on the podcast that his standalone episode for the series would have centered around Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, and Bizarro, with the latter potentially being played by Nicolas Cage. He also revealed that other characters who were up for grabs on the series included Ragman and Deadman.
Strange Adventures was originally set to be a DC super hero anthology that was to feature characters from across the publisher's canon. The one-hour drama would have explored close-ended stories about the intersecting lives of ordinary humans and superhumans. The series was originally announced alongside HBO Max's Green Lantern series, which is reportedly still in development.
"Both of these original DC properties we'll be creating for HBO Max will be unlike anything seen on television," producer Greg Berlanti said of both shows at the time. "An anthology series of cautionary tales set in a world where superpowers exist, and, in what promises to be our biggest DC show ever made, we will be going to space with a Green Lantern television series, but I can't reveal any more about that just yet."
Following Warner Bros. Discovery's cancellation of Batgirl, and comments from CEO David Zaslav indicating that they would be refocusing DC's live-action output with a Marvel Studios-esque ten-year plan, many have wondered what HBO Max-exclusive projects could survive that restructuring. The streamer's Black Canary film reportedly remains in development, as is J.J. Abrams' Constantine series, and recent reports indicate that existing originals like Harley Quinn, Titans, Peacemaker, and Pennyworth could still carry through.