The Batman Spinoff Arkham Asylum Lands The Staircase Creator Antonio Campos as Showrunner

HBO Max's upcoming Arkham Asylum series, a spinoff of Matt Reeves' The Batman, has found its latest creative lead with Variety reporting that Antonio Campos has been tapped to write the series. Coming off the Emmy-nominated HBO Max series The Staircase, Campos will also direct and serve as showrunner on the new series. Campos marks the third lead writer that has been attached to the project which began as a Gotham City Police procedural series with Terence Winter attached. Last yera came word that Winter had departed with Giri/Haji creator Joe Barton then taking on the part and departing again as well.

No official name for The Batman and its many spinoffs has been announced by DC Studios or Warner Bros. Pictures, but with multiple shows and a sequel in the works then some branding seems inevitable. Matt Reeves, the director and co-writer of the film, is set to executive produce the series through his 6th & Idaho production banner with Warner Bros. Television also producing. Campos most recent series, The Staircase, was previously nominated for two Primetime Emmys.

What is The Batman Arkham Asylum show about?

Officially no word has been announced about the content of this Arkham Asylum show other than the fact that it would be a more "horror"-style of series rather than the police procedural that was first developed. "We've actually now [moved] more into the realm of exactly what would happen in the world of Arkham as it relates coming off of our movie, and some of the characters… almost leaning into the idea of… it's like a horror movie or a haunted house that is Arkham," Reeves preivously told The Cyber Nerds.

He added, "I really want Arkham to exist as a character. You go into this environment and encounter these characters in a way that feels really fresh. And so in our work on Gotham, that story started to evolve, and it started feeling [like], 'Wait, we should really lean into this.' And then that's kinda where that's gone."

What spinoffs of The Batman are there?

In addition to the Arkham Asylum TV series, which remains in the early stages of development, The Batman will also see the release of a series specifically focusing on Colin Farrell's version of The Penguin. That TV show is the closest to happening however with multiple scripts of the series already written, and a production start date penciled in for the early part of 2023. Lauren LeFranc of Agents of SHIELD is set to showrun the series which will pick up very soon after the events of The Batman.

"[The Penguin] starts about a week after the film The Batman ends. So Gotham is still somewhat underwater," Farrell previously revealed to Extra. "I read the first script for the first episode, and it opens up with my feet splashing through the water in Falcone's office. Even just that alone, I read it, I was like, 'Oh, jeez.' It's lovely. It's so well-written."