HBO Max is heading into one of the stranger corners of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DCU, ordering ‘The People v. Gorilla Grodd‘, an eight-episode comedy which turns one of DC’s most famous supervillains into the subject of a true-crime documentary.
The half-hour Max Original stars Skyler Gisondo (Superman, The Righteous Gemstones) as the Daily Planet’s Jimmy Olsen, with Jimmy Tatro (American Vandal, Home Economics) taking on the role of Gorilla Grodd. The series will also bring back several familiar faces from Superman, including Beck Bennett (Saturday Night Live, Superman) as Steve Lombard, Mikaela Hoover (Superman, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3) as Cat Grant, and Wendell Pierce (The Wire, Jack Ryan) as Perry White.
The premise is gloriously ridiculous. A superintelligent ape has been convicted of murdering his father, the King of Gorilla City. In an eight-part “true” crime docuseries, Jimmy Olsen reopens the case to investigate whether Grodd was wrongly convicted in one of Metropolis’ most notorious murder trials.
Rather than approaching it as a conventional superhero comedy, ‘The People v. Gorilla Grodd’ sounds like it will be presented as something that could actually have been made inside the DC Universe. That makes a lot more sense when you look at the creative team. Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault, the duo behind Netflix’s ‘American Vandal’, serve as showrunners, writers and executive producers, with Yacenda directing all eight episodes.
Yacenda and Perrault said: “We’re excited by the challenge of creating a series that feels less like an entry into the DCU and more like an artifact from it. A Daily Planet original documentary made for the people of Metropolis. We hope it’ll appeal to fans of the comics, comedy and true crime. And while we can’t speak for audiences here yet, we already know it’s a huge hit in Metropolis. They love this series.”
Gunn and Safran clearly saw the potential for expanding the Daily Planet side of the universe after Superman, saying: “Between Skyler’s wonderful performance and the fantastic chemistry of the Daily Planet cast, we knew coming out of ‘Superman’ that this would be a fun world to explore. We’re excited to work with the brilliant Dan Perrault and Tony Yacenda to take the audience down some of the darker and funnier streets and alleyways of the DCU as Jimmy spotlights the Metropolis criminal justice system for his docuseries.”
For comic book fans, Grodd is best known as one of The Flash’s most persistent enemies, a highly intelligent gorilla from Gorilla City who has spent decades causing problems for Barry Allen and pretty much anyone else unfortunate enough to get in his way. Exactly how much of that comic book history will carry across into this version remains to be seen, but turning his backstory into a prestige-style murder documentary is certainly not the most obvious route into the character.
The series comes from DC Studios in association with Warner Bros. Television, with James Gunn, Peter Safran, Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault executive producing.
HBO Max has not yet announced a premiere date for ‘The People v. Gorilla Grodd‘.
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