There’s a lot of hype for Matt Reeves’ gritty AF version of The Batman and how Robert Pattinson will reinterpret the Caped Crusader, but some of that shine has been rubbed off after it was announced that the director is making a TV show spin-off about Gotham City’s cops.
The GOAT team talk to Cornel Ozies and Taryne Laffar about their doco on the first Indigenous-run police station on ‘It’s Been A Big Day For…’ below:
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Matt Reeves and HBO Max are teaming up to develop a new TV show set in the same universe as Robert Pattinson’s Batman that will focus on the cops of Gotham City and “further explore the myriad of compelling and complex characters of Gotham,” as well as “build upon the motion picture’s examination of the anatomy of corruption in Gotham City.” No word on whether RBatz himself will appear in the show though.
Now this all sounds great and all since it’s hard to argue against getting more content set in Robert Battinson Pattinson’s Batman universe, but there are two big problems with this ambitious Gotham City drama series from Matt Reeves and HBO.
Firstly, we already got a Gotham City TV show about cops that didn’t have Batman in it. Gotham anyone?
Secondly – and most importantly – now’s definitely not the time for another procedural series given the police are facing a long-overdue reckoning for its institutionalised racism, corruption and ineffectiveness, as well as how cop shows are finally being recognised as inaccurate propaganda pieces aimed at glorifying the badge-carrying authorities.
The premise of this Gotham City TV show about cops is also fundamentally flawed in this political climate given how Gotham PD has been historically depicted as being piss-poor at, you know, policing and actually doing helpful things like maintaining peace and protecting civilians.
Given how grim the world is right now and the tensions between the public and the police, does anyone really want to watch a gritty TV drama series about corrupt police doing shitty things that tries to paint its cops as anti-heroes for people to root for? Definitely not.
Just stick with giving us a great version of The Batman, Matt Reeves and HBO Max, and leave the TV show about Gotham City’s cops because now’s neither the time nor place for something like that.
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