Terence Winter (Boardwalk Empire, The Sopranos) was previously working on developing a spinoff series for The Batman that would’ve focused on the Gotham City Police Department.
The series has been scrapped, by Winter is now sharing some details on the story the show would’ve told and he explains why it ultimately fell apart.
When the series was initially announced, it was explained that the show “will build upon the film’s examination of the anatomy of corruption in Gotham City, launching a new Batman universe across multiple platforms.
“The series will extend the world established in the movie and further explore the myriad of complex characters of Gotham.”
Winter was developing the series with Matt Reeves , and when talking about what the show was going to entail while a guest on The Playlist’s Bingeworthy podcast, he said: “The idea was that we were going to do a 1970s cop show.
“Something that felt like Sidney Lumet’s 1981 crime and police drama Prince of the City, but in the Gotham City Police Department. It was going to have that [‘70s] feel.
“It was going to be a present-day cop who is like a third-generation Gotham City cop and Gotham City was largely corrupt. And this is the guy we meet in the present day who’s realizing that he’s kind of on the wrong side.
“The Batman was somebody that lived in that world, but you never really saw him. And it was really all about the police department and sort of this guy.”
Winter went on to explain that as they were developing the show, Reeves “wasn’t feeling it” in regards to what they were developing, and that resulted in Winter leaving the project and it was ultimately scrapped.
When The Penguin series was brought up in the conversation, Winter said: “That’s great, good for them. Like I said, you know, it was Matt’s idea originally, and, you know, more power to [him]. Sometimes, you’re in sync creatively; sometimes, you’re not.
“Or you get off on the wrong foot thinking, ‘Oh, we should do this but you know what, this is just not really working.’ Also, because there was Gotham, the show Gotham certainly took place in the Gotham City Police Department.
“[It] kind of stepped on the toes of our idea a little bit, even though ours was going to be totally very different. I think Penguin is great. I think they did a great job.”
It sounds like they were developing an interesting GCPD series, and it’s a shame that it did work out.
