Warning: Contains SPOILERS for The Batman
two planned spin-off series based in Reeves' Gotham; the other will focus on the Penguin, with Colin Farrell reprising his role from the movie.
Announced as Gotham PD, the show was originally planned to focus on Gotham’s police force in the first year of Bruce Wayne’s work as a masked vigilante. Jeffrey Wright had stated he’d been in conversations about appearing in the show, making it likely that the prequel series would have portrayed the beginning of Gordon and the Bat’s partnership. The Batman included several scenes that depicted the title character’s tense relationship with the GD and how corruption had seeped into its leadership.
But the movie also included several glimpses of the seedy and mysterious Arkham. Batman arguably has the best rogues' gallery of any comic book hero, with many villains who have not yet been seen in a live-action format but are often found in Arkham’s cells. Matt Reeves, director of The Batman, expressed interest in fleshing out the character of Arkham Asylum in a similar way to his vision of Gotham City as seen in the movie. Arkham was not examined in full in Reeves' film but the teases it provided showed why the GD show was changed and also why the show needs to happen in spite of the fact that it is currently on hold.
Although it was reported the spin-off show would be a direct follow-up to The Batman, one of the more interesting insights to Arkham in the movie is in regards to its past. Reeves made a slight alteration to the character of Martha Wayne, revealing that she was a member of the Arkham family and had her own battles with mental illness. This makes Bruce a descendant of the founding family of the facility in which his most deranged enemies are held. The show could explore more of this history between the Waynes and the Arkhams, connecting the show to Gotham’s Dark Knight and making an opportunity for him to appear in the show.
The Batman also gave audiences a rare look at Arkham in a live-action format; while the Arkham game trilogy allows players to go deep within the confines of the institution, it has been shown sparingly on screen. Joker portrays it in a generally normal way as other healthcare facilities that might be seen in real life. During The Batman's riveting scene between Batman and Paul Dano's disturbing Riddler, as well as Riddler's later conversation with an unseen patient, Arkham is shown to be dark, grimy, and heavily secured.
This is an Arkham that is ripe for exploration, especially because of the corruption that infiltrates Reeves' Gotham on every level. It was already a good move to shift focus from the GD to Arkham, since the latter is the more interesting of Gotham's institutions. But the Arkham teases in The Batman prove that there is a lot of potential in the premise and make it too good for the show to stay on permanent hold.
