Future Shared universe The Batman is intended to be the first of a new Batman film trilogy and establish a Batman-focused shared universe separate from the DCEU.[22][148][391] Reeves and Clark refer to the shared universe as the "Batman Epic Crime Saga".[392] Key cast members had signed on for future films by November 2019.[393] In December 2021, Pattinson said he had ideas for developing Batman's character in further films, while Clark said The Batman would lay a foundation upon which future films would build.[394] Pattinson and Reeves expressed interest in introducing Robin and featuring the Court of Owls, Calendar Man, Mr. Freeze, or Hush as villains in a sequel.[395] By October 2022, Reeves was meeting with directors and writers for several films and television series that were in early development and centered on members of Batman's rogues gallery, such as Scarecrow, Clayface, and Professor Pyg.[396] The Penguin (2024) Main article: The Penguin (TV series) By September 2021, HBO Max was developing a spin-off series focused on the Penguin, with Lauren LeFranc hired as showrunner.[391] In March 2022, HBO Max ordered The Penguin as a limited series,[397] with LeFranc writing all eight episodes,[398][399] and Craig Zobel directing the first three.[400] Farrell stars as the Penguin,[401] and executive produces the series alongside Reeves, Clark, LeFranc, and Zobel.[400] The series premiered on HBO on September 19, 2024.[402] Sequel A sequel was announced at CinemaCon in April 2022, with Pattinson and Reeves set to return,[403][404] along with Tomlin returning by August to co-write the script with Reeves.[405] The sequel was titled The Batman – Part II in January 2023.[406] Wright, Serkis, and Farrell are set to reprise their respective roles as Gordon,[407] Pennyworth,[408] and the Penguin in the film.[409] Filming is scheduled to begin in April 2025,[410] at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in England.[411] The Batman – Part II is scheduled to be released in the United States on October 2, 2026, after it was delayed from an initial October 2025 release date.[412] Unproduced series In July 2020, HBO Max gave a series commitment to a police procedural television series centered on the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD), with Terence Winter set to write and serve as showrunner. Reeves, Winter, Clark, Daniel Pipski, and Adam Kassan were executive producing the series.[413][414] In August, Reeves said the series would be a prequel to The Batman, taking place during the first year of Batman's career and focusing on the corruption in Gotham and the GCPD. He said the series would be told from the perspective of one particular crooked cop, with the story being a "battle for his soul",[415] taking inspiration from Prince of the City (1981).[416] In November, Winter left the project due to creative differences,[417] and Joe Barton was hired to replace him in January 2021.[418] HBO still had creative issues with the project, especially with its protagonist being a corrupt cop,[416] and they encouraged Reeves to focus on existing comics characters instead.[419] Wright revealed there had been discussions about him appearing in the series but he did not entertain the idea before the film's release.[420] In March 2022, Reeves said the GCPD series was on indefinite hold, though he hoped to revisit the premise in the future. Reeves revealed that initial work on that series had led to work on a new idea based on the Arkham State Hospital. He said the series would build upon Arkham's introduction in the film and explore the origins of different characters related to it. He envisioned a horror tone, with Arkham being depicted as a haunted house.[416] Antonio Campos was hired by then to write and direct the Arkham series in addition to serving as the showrunner and an executive producer, while the GCPD series was still in development.[421] By this time, the pitch for the Arkham series was one of the first to be bought by DC Studios and it was being developed for the DC Universe (DCU), which Gunn revealed in December when he said Reeves would continue developing projects for both his Batman shared universe and the DCU.[422] Both series were no longer moving forward by July 2024,[423][424] though some elements of the GCPD series were integrated into The Penguin.[392]