Batman is returning to TV in a tie-in with upcoming DC films about The Dark Knight.
Robert Pattinson will play the lead role in the upcoming film The Batman, while US streaming service HBO Max has announced a complimentary series set in Gotham City.
Currently untitled, the new show will follow the city's police force as they battle the criminal underworld.
Although it’s not confirmed if Pattinson or Jeffrey Wright (who plays Police Commissioner Gordon in the upcoming film) will star in the series, HBO has said the show will exist in the same universe as new DC movies.
This move mirrors the current Marvel 'phase four’ strategy, with Disney Plus TV series such as Hawkeye released alongside big-screen offerings like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
The new series will therefore exist outside the world of DC’s so-called Arrowverse. This band of shows, largely shown here on Sky, features Batwoman (currently on E4), a series that recently replaced lead Ruby Rose with Javicia Leslie.
While The Batman director Matt Reeves will perform the same role in the new project, Terence Winter, writer of Boardwalk Empire and The Sopranos, will write and executive produce the series.
"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 long-form format can afford," Matt Reeves said in a statement.
"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."
HBO Max added: "The series provides an unprecedented opportunity to extend the world established in the movie and further explore the myriad of compelling and complex characters of Gotham."
Understandably, under the current Covid-19 circumstances, a launch date for the show has yet to be announced by HBO.
