'Batman' to get new spinoff police TV series

[July 11, 2020]    LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The "Batman" universe is expanding, with a TV series set in Gotham City's police department that will explore corruption, streaming platform HBO Max said on Friday.

HBO Max said the original drama series would be produced by Matt Reeves, director of the upcoming Warner Bros. movie "The Batman" that stars Robert Pattinson as the caped crusader with no special superpowers.

It said the series would "extend the world established in the movie and further explore the myriad of compelling and complex characters of Gotham."

"The Batman" is set when the DC comic book character is about 30 years old and at the beginning of his life as a vigilante, Reeves has said.

Filming on "The Batman" was halted in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic but is expected to resume in the UK in the next few weeks for a movie theater release in October 2021.

Reeves said the TV series was "an amazing opportunity, not only to expand the vision of the world I am creating in the film, but to explore it in the kind of depth and detail that only a long-form format can afford."

No casting, title or expected broadcast date was announced.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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