‘Gotham PD’: Writer Of Abandoned ‘The Batman’ TV Spinoff Says Development Was “Pretty Chaotic”

Well before the release of March’s “The Batman,” which went on to become a critical hit and box office force when it hit theaters, Warner Bros. was already deep into development on multiple TV spinoffs of the superhero reboot film. While one of them, “The Penguin,” seems to be closer and closer to actually getting in front of cameras, another one, tentatively titled “Gotham PD,” was abandoned and morphed into the upcoming “Arkham Asylum” series. Well, the writer-showrunner for “Gotham PD” is no longer attached and recently opened up about what it was like developing the series. 

Speaking to Variety, writer Joe Barton, who was hired to script and showrun “Gotham PD,” talked about the development process of the ‘Batman’ spinoff. While he thinks he did some good work on the show, Barton also admitted that there was quite a bit of chaos going on behind the scenes as Warner Bros. merged with Discovery. Ultimately, he’s not that upset the series didn’t move forward.

READ MORE: ‘Arkham Asylum’ HBO Max Series Hires ‘The Staircase’ Creator Antonio Campos As Director/Showrunner

“I mean, it does seem pretty chaotic,” said Barton about the current state of Warner Bros. Discovery. “But then it was pretty chaotic when I was doing my thing there so in a way, I didn’t get to avoid the chaos. I think we were slightly the first wave of that chaos. I think the [Discovery merger] happened about halfway through the process, which had already been really, really rocky. I think it would have been really great and that’s kind of why I feel gutted about it, just because I know we would have made a great show. And so that’ll always be for me a regret, because I just think it would have been really super cool. But it just wasn’t to be.”

The writer added, “And I do think probably the process of making it would have been challenging. If the development of it is anything to go by, the actual fucking making of it, I think would have been – yeah, fucking intense probably. So in that respect, I’m kind of glad. It was definitely stressful…But yeah, I guess I will always regret the show that we could have made, but I think I’ll probably live longer without the stress it would have caused.”

READ MORE: ‘Penguin’ Series Taps ‘Mare Of Easttown’ Helmer Craig Zobel To Direct First Two Episodes

In addition to “Gotham PD,” Barton also has been working on the upcoming “Cloverfield” sequel. Announced back at the beginning of 2021, J.J. Abrams and his Bad Robot production company are working on a sequel to the hit film, “Cloverfield,” with acclaimed filmmaker Babak Anvari attached to direct. As with everything related to “Cloverfield,” not much is known about the new film, but Barton teased that he’s excited for what’s to come even though he understands that fans are already very skeptical that the film will actually be any good.

“There are people that are excited for it and there’ll be people [who] I think will be slightly defensive, because there’s a definite quite hardcore fan base, particularly for the first movie,” said Barton. “I feel very positive about the creative [on the ‘Cloverfiel’ sequel], I think what we’re gonna do with it is going to be really good. If I didn’t think we had a good idea, I didn’t actually think it was gonna be good, then I’d be worried. But I am really excited about the potential for what we’re doing with ‘Cloverfield,’ and particularly the story that we came up with.”

READ MORE: Paramount Has New ‘Cloverfield’ Movie On The Way With Babak Anvari Directing

He continued, “I don’t know, I just think that I would really like to watch it, I think it will be a good movie. People are waiting with different preconceptions or prejudices or whatever, but all you can do at the end of the day is try and make something that’s really good, and then give it to them and see.”

A release date for the “Cloverfield” sequel isn’t known at this time, which is par for the course when speaking about this franchise. Let’s not forget that “Cloverfield Paradox” was released as a surprise on Netflix. 

As for a Joe Barton project that actually got made and is arriving soon, you can watch his new series, “The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself,” which arrives on Netflix on October 28.