After a recent development, DC's planned Arkham Asylum series continues to generate confusion. Batman is perhaps DC's most popular hero, fighting Superman for that coveted spot. There have been many movies and series — both live-action and animated — about the Dark Knight over the years. As DC Comics has built a great wealth of stories surrounding Batman and his supporting cast, Bruce Wayne has not been the sole focus of adaptations. Characters like Batman's many Robins, his butler Alfred Pennyworth, and more have been the focus of Batman-related movies and series.

Even Batman's most important location, Gotham City, has gotten the chance to shine in the series Gotham, which featured many of the Dark Knight's villains while Bruce was still a child. Like Gotham, DC set plans in motion for another key location of Batman's world to be brought into the spotlight. A series based on the infamous Arkham Asylum has gone through quite a few interesting developments since the idea for the project was conceived. After a recent update on the show, confusion has only grown about it and the DCU's slate of projects.

Arkham Asylum's Early Development Explained

There Have Been A Few Iterations Of The Show

Director Matt Reeves is in charge of multiple Batman projects. That was to be expected after the resounding success of The Batman, which introduced Robert Pattinson's Bruce Wayne to the world in gritty fashion. After The Batman's success, Reeves started to develop plans for a trilogy and other projects within The Batman universe. The first The Batman spinoff series will be The Penguin, with Colin Farrell reprising his role as the title character this September. In July 2020, another The Batman spinoff series focused on the Gotham PD was announced.

While The Penguin has a release date set, going through a smooth development process, the Gotham PD series had the opposite happen. The show went through a few iterations, which included a couple of showrunner changes. In the end, Reeves revealed that the Gotham PD show, which was initially going to include Jim Gordon, had morphed into a planned Arkham Asylum series. By 2022, when the concepts for both series had merged into one, Arkham Asylum was still seemingly set in The Batman universe, which would later turn out not to be true.

Arkham Asylum Was Turned Into A DCU Project

The Batman Universe Expansion Plans Still Continue

Reeves continues to develop projects for his The Batman universe, but that does not mean that will be his only focus for DC. For instance, the director is one of the creative minds behind the upcoming Batman: Caped Crusader animated series, which puts a fresh spin on the Dark Knight and many iconic DC characters. Reeves will also be developing Batman-related projects for James Gunn's new DC Universe. That was revealed when Gunn said that the Arkham Asylum series was going to be part of the DCU, which came as a shock.

Up to that point, the project had always been referred to as being set in Reeves' The Batman universe. However, according to Gunn, "Matt [Reeves] is producing Arkham as a DCU series." The DCU creative chief also said that the project was one of the first pitches he and DC Studios' other co-CEO, Peter Safran, took in upon starting their new roles, with Gunn claiming Arkham Asylum was always developed as a DCU series. Based on Gotham PD's development timeline and Gunn's words, when Reeves decided to pivot to an Arkham-based story, he also switched universes for his pitch.

Arkham Asylum Has Now Been Canceled

There Might Be Some Hope

After a long development process that included showrunners leaving and the concept — and universe — of the series changing, Arkham Asylum has reportedly been canceled. The news of the show's cancellation came as a shock, since Gunn had reiterated that work on the DCU project was moving forward seven months ago. However, what is more confusing is that Variety's report of Arkham Asylum's cancellation mentions that the show was planned for The Batman universe and not the DCU, which Gunn had said was the case.

Interestingly, the report claims that while showrunner Antonio Campos' version of Arkham Asylum is not moving forward, there is a chance that a new project based on the iconic DC location could be developed in the future as a separate idea. Despite conflicting reports around the show's universe, the Arkham Asylum series is currently dead. However, Reeves will continue to work on projects related to his The Batman universe and the DCU for years to come, which could eventually lead to the idea for the show being revisited in the future.