Arkham Asylum HBO Max Series Taps ‘The Staircase’ Creator Antonio Campos as New Showrunner (EXCLUSIVE)
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UPDATED: “The Batman” spinoff series about Arkham Asylum at HBO Max has brought on Antonio Campos as its new writer, Variety has learned exclusively from sources.
Sources also say that Campos will direct and serve as showrunner/executive producer on the series, should his version of the show ultimately go forward.
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Although Matt Reeves had previously said that the originally planned Gotham PD series had “kind of evolved” into what is now the Arkham Asylum show, an individual with knowledge of the situation now says that the two are in fact completely separate and that the Gotham PD series remains in development. The Gotham PD series was originally announced in July 2020 with a series commitment. At that time, the show was meant to be about the inner workings of the GCPD and set within the same world as Reeves’ “The Batman,” with Terence Winter writing and executive producing. But news broke in November of that year that Winter had left the series over creative differences. “Giri/Haji” creator Joe Barton was then brought onboard, but Warner Bros. ultimately parted ways with Barton as well.
Reps for Campos, HBO Max, and Warner Bros. declined to comment.
Reeves is executive producing the Arkham Asylum show under his 6th & Idaho banner along with the company’s Daniel Pipski and Adam Kassan. Dylan Clark will also executive produce with 6th & Idaho’s Rafi Crohn co-executive producing. Warner Bros. Television is the studio. Reeves is currently under an overall deal at WBTV.
The Arkham Asylum show does not have an official logline at this time, but Reeves previously described it as “like a horror movie or a haunted house that is Arkham.” It is the third known “The Batman” spinoff series, with Colin Farrell set to reprise the role of The Penguin in his own standalone show.
Campos is no stranger to HBO Max, as he previously worked with the streaming service on the critically-acclaimed true crime limited series “The Staircase.” Campos was the writer, director, executive producer, and showrunner on that project, which starred Colin Firth and Toni Collette as Michael and Kathleen Peterson respectively. It debuted on HBO Max in May 2022.
Aside from “The Staircase,” Campos’ previous TV credits include executive producing and directing multiple episodes of the hit USA Network crime anthology series “The Sinner,” including the pilot and Season 2 premiere. He also directed an episode during the first season of the Marvel-Netflix series “The Punisher.” On the feature side, he wrote and directed films such as “Simon Killer” and “Afterschool.” His film “The Devil All the Time,” based on the novel by Donald Ray Pollock, was released in 2020. The cast included Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland, and Riley Keough. Campos co-wrote the film with Paulo Campos.
He is repped by CAA, Entertainment 360, and Nelson Davis LLP.
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