Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: DCU TV

  • ‘Creature Commandos’: James Gunn Reveals Animated Series Release Date, Teases Its Place in the DCU

    ‘Creature Commandos’: James Gunn Reveals Animated Series Release Date, Teases Its Place in the DCU

    James Gunn and Peter Safran set themselves the titanic task of creating an all-new, all-different DCU from the rumble of the previous iteration. To do so, the DC Studios co-chairs had to ensure that their projects looked and felt as different as possible from their predecessor…and by launching the new shared universe with a canonical animated series, they’ve done just that.

    Written by Gunn, the seven-episode streaming series Creature Commandos will provide what he calls “a little nibble” of what to expect from the DCU, allowing fans to “see what it tastes like.” Now fans finally know when they can expect the hors d’oeuvres.

    Gunn took to social media to reveal that Creature Commandos will debut on Max on December 5th.

    In an interview with EW, Gunn explained that part of what drew him to Creature Commandos was how far removed it was from the “mainstream” DC Comics series that most folks know and love.

    The thing I’ve always loved about DC Comics was that you had your mainstream comics that always ran, but they also had these tonally different comics like Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns and All-Star Superman. It was different from Marvel in that way. That’s something that I really want to retain within the studio, that every project is going to bring a different vision by the artists who are creating it.

    -James Gunn, EW, September 2024

    And for Gunn, dealing with “different” has proven to be his wheelhouse in superhero fare so far. While working with Marvel Studios, Gunn bravely launched a Guardians of the Galaxy franchise full of misfit comic book characters that general audiences had never heard of before and turned them into household names. While fans might see some similarities between the Guardians and the Commandos, Gunn cautions that this isn’t just an animated Guardians redux. “I’m used to dealing with oddballs and irregular types and weirdos,” said Gunn. “That’s what Guardians is, and Creature Commandos is kind of like Guardians without the sentimentality. The Guardians are all really good characters at their heart, and that just isn’t necessarily the case with the creatures.“

    While kicking off an all-new, all-different shared universe with an animated series filled with characters that only hardcore fans of DC Comics will know and that may not prove as loveable and Rocket and Groot might seem risky, Gunn is confident that Creature Commandos will effectively set the table for the DCU. “Superman is the true start of everything, it’s a humongous epic. This is a way for people to just take a little nibble and see what it tastes like,” Gunn says. “There are a ton of fun references to other DC stuff, a bunch of hints for things that are coming. So I think it’s just an extraordinarily fun way to start.“

    Source: EW

  • DC Studios Eyeing Primetime Emmy Award-Winning Director for ‘Lanterns’

    DC Studios Eyeing Primetime Emmy Award-Winning Director for ‘Lanterns’

    Co-chair James Gunn described DC Studios’ streaming series Lanterns as playing a “really big role leading us into the main story” of the DCU’s Chapter One: Gods and Monsters. And Gunn and Peter Safran have assembled an incredibly talented group of creators to put the project together. In May, Gunn announced the “crack team of writers” behind Lanterns: DC Comics writer Tom King, Ozark showrunner Chris Mundy and Lost and HBO’s Watchmen creator, Damon Lindelof. Having already put together a team of heavy hitters to create the show, the studio next set out to land some big talent to put in front of the camera, offering the role of Hal Jordan to Josh Brolin. Now, as they wait on Brolin’s decision and continue to prepare for production to kick off, they’ve also begun searching for directors for the series and, once again, have shot for the stars.

    This is a story of a couple of Green Lanterns John Stewart and Hal Jordan.
    We have a few other Lanterns peppered in there but this is really a terrestrial-based TV show which is almost like True Detective with a couple of Green Lanterns who are space cops watching over Precinct Earth in it they discover a terrifying mystery that ties into our largest story of the DCU.

    -James Gunn on Lanterns
    According to Jeff “The In” Sneider, DC Studios has contacted Prime Time Emmy Award-winning director Stephen Williams about directing the pilot episode of Lanterns.

    Williams checks all the boxes as an excellent choice for Lanterns having directed two episodes each of HBO’s Watchmen and Westworld as well as multiple episodes of Ray Donovan, The Walking Dead, and, of course, twenty-six episodes of Lost. A frequent collaborator with Lindelof, Williams would be working from what Gunn described as “a wonderful pilot script and bible” from the creative team. At this time, no other directors have been mentioned for Lanterns, which was ordered straight to series at HBO earlier this year.

  • ‘Lanterns’: New Report Reveals More Stars on DC Studios’ Short List for Hal Jordan

    ‘Lanterns’: New Report Reveals More Stars on DC Studios’ Short List for Hal Jordan

    DC Studios’ Lanterns is shaping up as a major HBO prestige series. With a series “bible” created by a writers’ room loaded with talent, the studio is now targeting Prime Time Emmy Award-winning director Stephen Williams to helm the pilot and star Josh Brolin to fill the role of Hal Jordan, one of the series’ two leads. However, should he pass, it sounds as though DC Studios co-chairs James Gunn and Peter Safran have more big-time talent in mind to bring Jordan to the all-new, all-different DCU.

    Alright, Alright, Alright…

    According to Jeff “The In” Sneider, should Brolin turn down the role of Jordan, Matthew McConaughey is one of at least two big names DC Studios has interest in approaching. Though he has only recently dabbled in superhero fare as the voice of Cowboypool in Deadpool & Wolverine, McConaughey is no stranger to working with HBO on a prestige series. McConaughey’s role as Detective Rust Cohle in the first season of True Detective landed him ten award nominations, making him one of the series’ most recognized talents. McConaughey would be a bold choice for the role of Jordan and would certainly bring with him the requisite charisma and brashness of the former test pilot turned space cop.

    Hello There!

    If McConaughey‘s name appearing on a short list of actors for the role of Hal Jordan surprised you, Ewan McGregor would certainly do the same and then some. Alas, Sneider shared the news that Obi-Wan Kenobi is on DC Studios’ radar for the role of Jordan. McGregor most recently starred in the Hulu series A Gentleman in Moscow and also received rave reviews for his work on Fargo and won a Primetime Emmy for his role in the Netflix limited series Halston.

    While there’s been no official timeline provided by Gunn or Safran, with a casting search underway for the series’ leads, it would seem reasonable to assume that production on Lanterns could begin in early 2025.

  • Episode Titles & Runtimes for the First Four Episodes of ‘The Penguin’ Have Leaked

    Episode Titles & Runtimes for the First Four Episodes of ‘The Penguin’ Have Leaked

    As DC Studios’ co-chairs James Gunn and Peter Safran continue putting the finishing touches on Creature Commandos, the first project of the all-new, all-different DCU era, one of the studio’s Elseworlds projects that survived that change in direction at the WBD is nearing its premiere. The Penguin–an interquel to Matt Reeves‘ The Batman and The Batman Part II–will debut on HBO and Max on Thursday, September 19th, with new episodes then debuting on Sunday nights beginning on September 29th.

    This thrilling crime drama follows Oswald “Oz” Cobb’s quest for control in Gotham City. With the city in peril following the seawall’s collapse, Oz (Oscar® nominee Colin Farrell) seeks to fill the power vacuum left by the death of Carmine Falcone and finally give his mother Francis (Deirdre O’Connell) the life he’s always promised. But first, Oz must confront his enemies, including Carmine’s children, Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) and Alberto Falcone (Michael Zegen); the Maroni family, led by their imprisoned patriarch, Salvatore Maroni (Clancy Brown); and Oz’s own demoralizing reputation as “The Penguin.”

    -Official Synopsis for The Penguin

    Part of The Epic Batman Crime Saga, The Penguin is an eight-episode series that follows Colin Farrell‘s Oz through the immediate aftermath of the events of The Batman. With the series premiere just around the corner, members of the media have begun screening early episodes and, as a result, the titles and runtimes of the first four episodes of the series have leaked.

    Nothing about the episode titles for showrunner Lauren LeFranc’s series seems too spoilery; however, the episode lengths are fairly notable. Whereas Marvel Studios is often criticized by fans for rolling out streaming episodes that are too short, HBO is giving The Penguin the prestige treatment, with runtimes similar to series such as House of the Dragon or True Detective. As revealed by runtime go-to-guy Cryptic HD Quality, the first episode of The Penguin will eclipse the hour mark while each of the next three will come in just under it.

    With the follow-up to 2022’s The Batman set to enter into production next year and not expected in theaters until 2026, The Penguin looks to be serving up an impressive 8ish hours of content to bridge the gap!

    About The Penguin

    Starring Colin Farrell as Oz Cobb (aka The Penguin), the eight-episode HBO Original limited series from DC Studios continues the epic crime saga that filmmaker Matt Reeves began with the global blockbuster The Batman. The cast also includes Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz, Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Deirdre O’Connell, Clancy Brown, James Madio, Scott Cohen, Michael Zegen, Carmen Ejogo and Theo Rossi.

    Based on characters created for DC by Bob Kane with Bill Finger, The Penguin is produced by 6th & Idaho Productions and Dylan Clark Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. Executive producers, Matt Reeves, Dylan Clark, Colin Farrell, Lauren LeFranc, Craig Zobel, Bill Carraro, and Daniel Pipski; writer and showrunner, Lauren LeFranc.

  • DC Studios No Longer Moving Ahead with a Matt Reeves’ Gotham-Verse Series

    DC Studios No Longer Moving Ahead with a Matt Reeves’ Gotham-Verse Series

    Before James Gunn and Peter Safran took the reigns as co-chairs of DC Studios, Matt Reeves had quite the vision for bringing Gotham to life on the big and small screens. In addition to his trilogy of Batman films, Reeves had several streaming series in the works and while one of those, The Penguin, is set to debut on Max this September, news has come down that development on another series has been halted.

    According to Variety, the untitled Arkham Asylum streaming series will no longer move forward.

    The GCDP thing, that story has story has kinda evolved. We’ve actually now [moved] more into the realm of exactly what would happen in the world of Arkham as it relates coming off of our movie, and some of the characters… almost leaning into the idea of… it’s like a horror movie or a haunted house that is Arkham.

    –Matt Reeves on the evolution of his Arkham project

    Originally imagined as a Gotham City Police Department series to be written by Boardwalk Empire creator Terence Winter and set within Reeves’ universe, the premise of the project changed over time. By March 2022, the GCPD project became an Arkham Asylum-centric series that would involve horror elements with Joe Barton taking the reigns on the script. In the fall of 2022, Antonio Campos took over as showrunner and development continued. Now, the long-gestating project is no more.

    The idea, again the way that Gotham is a character in the movie, I really want Arkham to exist as a character. You go into this environment and encounter these characters in a way that feels really fresh. And so in our work on Gotham, that story started to evolve, and it started feeling [like], ‘Wait, we should really lean into this.’ And then that’s kinda where that’s gone.

    –Matt Reeves on the evolution of his Arkham project

    Even with the show not moving forward, Reeves‘ vision for Gotham still lives on. In addition to Colin Farrel’s The Penguin series, Robert Pattinson will return in The Batman Part II in 2026.

    Source: Variety

  • DC Studios’ Max Series ‘Lanterns’ Ordered Straight to Series

    DC Studios’ Max Series ‘Lanterns’ Ordered Straight to Series

    After a long black night, a bright day has finally come for DC’s Green Lanterns. After being announced as an integral part of the new DC Studios’ slate in January 2023, the Max streaming series Lanterns has been ordered straight to an eight-episode series by HBO.

    Following rumors that a writer’s room had been assembled for the series, DC Studios’ recently officially revealed that Ozark writer Chris Mundy would be the showrunner for the streamer. As previously reported, DC Comics writer Tom King and Watchmen and Lost creator Damon Lindelof will also help write the series which will focus on the Green Lanterns two most well known members, Hal Jordan and John Stewart.

    “We’re thrilled to bring this seminal DC title to HBO with Chris, Damon and Tom at the helm,” said DC Studios’ co-chairs James Gunn and Peter Safran.

    John Stewart and Hal Jordan are two of DC’s most compelling characters, and Lanterns brings them to life in an original detective story that is a foundational part of the unified DCU we’re launching next summer with Superman.

    -James Gunn and Peter Safran on Lanterns

    Previously described as a “terrestrial-based investigation story” that “plays a really big role leading us into the main story” in the DCU’s first chapter of stories, Lanterns will revolve around the central characters finding an “ancient horror on Earth.” As of now, there’s no indication of when to expect the series on Max but casting is rumored to be underway for Jordan and Stewart.

    Source: THR

  • James Gunn Announces the Writing Team Behind DC Studios’ ‘Lanterns’

    James Gunn Announces the Writing Team Behind DC Studios’ ‘Lanterns’

    Among the first projects announced as part of DC Studios’ Chapter One: Gods and Monsters was the MAX streaming series Lanterns. Described by DC Studios’ co-chair Peter Safran as a “space opera” and  “terrestrial-based investigation story” in the vein of True Detective, Lanterns will play a “really big role leading us into the main story” of Chapter One. An interesting premise for sure and one that would require a top notch writing team…and it’s safe to say Safran and James Gunn put one together.

    This is a story of a couple of Green Lanterns John Stewart and Hal Jordan.

    -James Gunn on Lanterns

    Gunn took to Instagram to announce a few members of an all-star writers room behind the project. Tom King, Chris Mindy and Damon Lindelof will headline the “crack team” of writers on the project.

    Lindelof has long been rumored to be attached to the project and recently liked an Instagram post by Gunn related to it. This is the first indication of Mundy’s involvement but with experience on True Detective and the Netflix series Ozark, he seems the perfect fit for the direction indicated by DC’s top dogs.

    We have a few other Lanterns peppered in there but this is really a terrestrial based TV show which is almost like True Detective with a couple of Green Lanterns who are space cops watching over Precinct Earth in it they discover a terrifying mystery that ties into our largest story of the DCU.

    -James Gunn on Lanterns

    While iconic Lanterns Jordan and Stewart will lead the series, they won’t be the first members of the Corps fans meet. That honor will go to the Corps’ biggest asshole, Guy Gardner, who will be brought to life by Nathan Fillion in Gunn’s Superman. Lanterns currently has no timeline for release.

  • Mark Strong Confirmed to Appear in a Mystery Role in ‘The Penguin’

    Mark Strong Confirmed to Appear in a Mystery Role in ‘The Penguin’

    In a now-deleted Instagram post, Mark Strong‘s personal trainer, Giacomo Farci, confirmed that the star has a role in the upcoming MAX streaming series, The Penguin. While it’s not the first time the actor’s name has been associated with the project, Farci’s comments are much more believable than when Strong was listed as part of the cast on IMDB a couple of months ago. Now, the real question is, of course, who will the actor be playing?

    With Shazam! baddie Doctor Sivana and Green Lantern goober Sinestro among the roles on his resume, Strong already has a notable history portraying DC villains. While there’s no indication by Farci who Strong will be playing in The Penguin, it seems more likely than not that it will be yet another villain given what’s known about the project. Given that the streaming series will serve to bridge the gap between 2022’s The Batman and 2026’s The Batman Part II, it’s also possible Strong’s character could appear in the Matt Reeves‘-helmed sequel and though he didn’t share the identity of Strong’s character, Farci did leave one hint for fans to decipher.

    When asked which character his client was playing, Farci said he was unable to answer the question but then encouraged the fan who posed the question to “watch Gotham” which he then said was “a good series for DC lovers.” Then, to make sure the fan caught the hint, Farci capped off the sentence with a cute winky face emoji.

    Over 5 seasons, the Fox series Gotham used a whole slew of villains from Batman’s rogues gallery. Some of those make more sense for Strong than others, such as psychopath Victor Zsasz, Mr. Freeze, Hugo Strange or even Clayface; however, given that The Penguin seems very mob-centric, it’s also possible Strong might play any number of mafioso types who could be vying for power after Carmine Falcone’s death. We’ll all find out together when The Penguin streams on MAX later this year.

  • Frank Grillo Joins the Cast of DC Studios ‘Peacemaker’ Season 2

    Frank Grillo Joins the Cast of DC Studios ‘Peacemaker’ Season 2

    Having been cast as Rick Flag Sr. In the upcoming streaming series Creature Commandos, Frank Grillo is already a part of the all-new DCU. And as audiences wait for the animated Max series to debut, they can also look forward to Grillo’s first live-action appearance, too.

    As revealed on Instagram by DC Studios’ co-chair James Gunn, Grillo has joined the cast of Peacemaker Season 2.

    As is expected to be the case with the entire cast of voice actors on Creature Commandos, Grillo will portray the live-action iteration of Flag Sr. in the John Cena lead streaming series. Production on the second season of Peacemaker kicked off last month.

    Gunn created the series and directed five of the first season’s eight episodes. While he will be unable to carry that load on Season 2 due to his commitment to Superman, Gunn will still direct some episodes. Though no release window has been set, Peacemaker Season 2 is expected to stream on Max in 2025.

  • James Gunn Confirms Production Has Begun on His Next DC Studios’ Project

    James Gunn Confirms Production Has Begun on His Next DC Studios’ Project

    Despite a dozen known projects being on it, DC Studios’ DCU slate is fairly undefined. Though Creature Commandos has been confirmed for a 2024 streaming debut, the only project with a known release date is Superman, which is currently in production ahead of its July 11, 2025 bow. It was originally believed that the streaming series Waller would hit Max in 2024; however, the 2023 WGA strike put a dent in those plans. With the scripts for Waller still being written by Jeremy Carver and Christal Henry, Season 2 of Peacemaker became next in line. Peacemaker star Jennifer Holland recently revealed cameras were set to roll on the John Cena-led series this summer but DC Studios co-chair James Gunn just surprised everyone with an update on the project.

    Production Is Underway on Season 2 of Peacemaker

    As is his way, Gunn–who confirmed he is directing some episodes of Peacemaker Season 2–took to social media to announce that production on the sophomore season of the streaming series had begun.

    The announcement comes as a bit of a shock as principal photography on Superman is ongoing; however, there’s no arguing with the man with the plan.

    Could Superman Appear in Peacemaker Season 2?

    One interesting possibility that arises from Peacemaker and Superman filming in the same spot at the same time under the watchful eye of the man directing both and in charge of the shared universe is a potential crossover. At some point, Peacemaker’s presence in the new DCU will have to be explained since the events of Season 1 predate the existence of the all-new, all-different universe. Given Gunn is the boss, having all the principal actors available together provides the perfect opportunity for the director to cross major task off his to-do list.