‘The People v. Gorilla Grodd’ Is A Go For HBO Max

For months now we’ve been reporting on a possible HBO Max TV miniseries from DC Studios focused on the many crimes of Gorilla Grodd, narrated by Jimmy Olsen in a “true crime docudrama” sort of style. It’s one of the weirder ideas James Gunn has been floating around. Now it seems like he’ll get it: Gunn confirmed on his social media accounts WB has greenlit the series for production.

The series is described like this: “A superintelligent ape is convicted of murdering his father, the King of Gorilla City. In an eight-part ‘true’ crime docuseries, the Daily Planet’s Jimmy Olsen reopens the case, investigating whether Gorilla Grodd was wrongly convicted in one of Metropolis’ most famous murder trials.”

The People v. Gorilla Grodd will feature multiple Daily Planet characters from the Superman movie, all of whom will be played by their actors: Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, Beck Bennett as Steve Lombard, Mikaela Hoover as Cat Grant, and Wendell Pierce as Perry White. Jimmy Tatro will voice Grodd (maybe he’ll even get into a monkey suit, who knows). Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault have been appointed as showrunners and lead writers; Yacenda will direct all eight planned episodes.

“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,” Gunn, the head of DC Studios and EP on the show, said in a press release. “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.”

“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,” Yacenda and Perrault added in a joint statement. “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.”

We’re fortunate The People v. Gorilla Grodd survived, as there’s been some culling done at DC Studios after the failure of Supergirl. A planned show based around Amanda Waller and a prequel series about Themyscira, Wonder Woman‘s home island, were both cancelled in early development.