Doom Patrol Showrunner Teases Season 4's Apocalyptic Stakes, Rise of Immortus (Exclusive)

The fourth season of Doom Patrol has arrived with the first two episodes of the season now streaming on HBO Max and even just two episodes in, it's already clear that things are going to get apocalyptic in a whole new way for the team. Now, showrunner Jeremy Carver is breaking down the stakes ahead in Season 4 — including how the arrival of Immortus is going to answer some major questions both for the team and the audience.

"We wanted to play with the idea that we had only been teasing for a couple seasons, which is was there a world where the Doom Patrol could actually envision themselves as a superhero team of the type that they had always rejected," Carver told ComicBook.com. "So, we said, okay, maybe the testicle monster incident [at the end of Season 3] triggered a set of success for the team and maybe for a few months on, as we talk about the beginning of episode one of Season 4, that actually having a pretty good run of success and we see them battling against Codpiece. And then what happens when you take that sort of new but not quite dried concept of team and you sort of smack in the head with the realization that it's all going to come to an end sometime in the future alongside the end of the world, so basically rattle their cages with this discovery and see then how the team reacts. Very quickly, we see some splinter."

And he's right about the splinter early on. After accidentally traveling into the future and discovering an apocalypse that the Doom Patrol is seemingly responsible for, the team returns to Doom Manor in the present to figure out how to stop it, something that results in Rita (April Bowlby) being voted out of her role as team leader. But a grim, apocalyptic, were-butt infested future isn't the only threat coming for the world and the Doom Patrol The episode also teases the arrival of Immortus — and Carver says the stakes are higher than ever, but there will be questions that get answers for the team and the fans.

"I can tell you that the idea of Immortus and the arrival of Immortus is going to answer a lot of questions for our team in terms of their own selves and their own creation," he said. "There's been some long running questions, I know certainly out there in the fan base, as to why certain things are the way they are. The mere notion of going down this Immortus road is going to answer some of those questions. Secondly, I can just say that who and what Immortus is, is very much in line with the Doom Patrol that people have come to expect, and I think it's a lot of fun."

What is Doom Patrol about?

Doom Patrol reimagines one of DC's most beloved groups of superheroes: "Robotman" aka Cliff Steele (Brendan Fraser), "Negative Man" aka Larry Trainor (Matt Bomer), "Elasti-Woman" aka Rita Farr (April Bowlby), "Crazy Jane" (Diane Guerrero), "Cyborg" aka Victor Stone (Joivan Wade), joined by former super villain "Madame Rouge" aka Laura de Mille (Michelle Gomez). Each member of the Doom Patrol suffered a horrible accident that gave them superhuman abilities, but also left them scarred and disfigured. Part support group, part Super Hero team, the Doom Patrol is a band of superpowered freaks who fight for a world that wants nothing to do with them. Season four opens with the team unexpectedly traveling to the future to find an unwelcome surprise. Faced with their imminent demise, the Doom Patrol must decide once and for all which is more important: their own happiness, or the fate of the world?

The series stars Brendan Fraser, Matt Bomer, Diane Guerrero, April Bowlby, Joivan Wade, Michelle Gomez, Skye Roberts, Riley Shanahan, and Matthew Zuk. Doom Patrol is produced by Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television with showrunner Jeremy Carver, Geoff Johns, Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, Chris Dingess and Tamara Becher-Wilkinson serving as executive producers. The series is based on characters created for DC by Arnold Drake, Bob Haney and Bruno Premiani.

Doom Patrol airs new episodes Thursdays on HBO Max.