Draft:Untitled Arkham series

The untitled Arkham series is an unproduced American television series created by Matt Reeves for the streaming service Max, based on the DC Comics psychiatric hospital Arkham Asylum. It was intended to be written and directed by Antonio Campos for the DC Universe (DCU), and be produced by DC Studios.

HBO Max ordered a The Batman (2022) spin-off series from Reeves in July 2020, to be based on the film's depiction of the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD). Following creative issues, the GCPD series was placed on hold by March 2022 when Reeves revealed that the project had evolved into a different series that would further explore Arkham after its introduction in the film. Campos joined as showrunner and director that October, when Reeves was developing it for the DCU. The series was no longer moving forward by July 2024.

Premise
The series was set to explore the psychiatric hospital Arkham State Hospital and the origins of some of its inmates.

Development
In July 2020, HBO Max gave a series commitment to a television spin-off series from The Batman (2022), from the film's director Matt Reeves. It was intended to be a police procedural centered on the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD), serving as a prequel to The Batman and exploring the corruption in Gotham City and the GCPD. In August 2021, a production listing gave the series' working title as Arkham. In March 2022, Reeves said the GCPD series was no longer moving forward. He explained that HBO had creative issues with the project, especially with its focus on corrupt cops, and had encouraged him to focus on existing comic characters instead. Reeves revealed that development of the GCPD series had led to work on a new idea based on Arkham Asylum, Gotham's psychiatric hospital that is home to various Batman villains. In August, Reeves renewed his deal with Warner Bros. Television Studios, where he was developing this series and another spin-off, The Penguin (2024). It was initially unknown if the Arkham series would move forward after Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) became the owner of Warner Bros., and had already shelved the nearly-completed DC Extended Universe (DCEU) film Batgirl that was made for HBO Max and decided not to retain that service's animated series Batman: Caped Crusader (2024), which Reeves produced.

Antonio Campos was hired in October 2022 to write and direct the series in addition to serving as showrunner and an executive producer. 6th & Idaho's Daniel Pipski and Adam Kassan were also set as executive producers, along with Rafi Crohn as a co-executive producer. Dylan Clark was also set as an executive producer. At that time, the GCPD series was revealed to still be in development and would be separate from the Arkham series. After James Gunn and Peter Safran were hired to serve as the co-CEOs of DC Studios that month, Gunn said that studio would oversee all DC productions moving forward, and had contacted Reeves about his projects by then. The pitch for the Arkham series was one of the first to be bought by DC Studios around this time. When announcing the first projects for the new DC franchise the DC Universe (DCU) in January 2023, Gunn said any project that did not fit into the DCU's shared universe would be labeled as "DC Elseworlds" moving forward. This is the same as how DC Comics uses the Elseworlds imprint to mark comic books that are separate from the main continuity. Reeves' Batman shared universe was set to be a part of this label, which had been expected to include the Arkham series. Gunn revealed in December that Reeves had been developing the series for the DCU, and that he would continue developing projects for both his Batman shared universe and the DCU. By July 2024, the Arkham and GCPD series were both no longer moving forward at Max, the successor to HBO Max. There was still potential for a new project set within Gotham City to be developed.

Writing
Reeves originally said the series would build upon Arkham's introduction in The Batman, and explore the origins of different characters related to it. He wanted Arkham itself to be treated like a character in the series, similar to his approach to Gotham City in the film, and envisioned a horror tone with Arkham being depicted as a haunted house.

Release
The series was set to be released on the streaming service Max.