Before the movies, a 'Superman' spinoff series was planned, Skyler Gisondo says
Before the movies ever took shape, Skyler Gisondo says HBO Max’s The People v. Gorilla Grodd was already in the works — and he explains how.
File this under “DCU curveballs”: the new spin-off The People v. Gorilla Grodd is a true-crime style mockumentary centered on Jimmy Olsen and the Daily Planet crew probing whether DC villain Gorilla Grodd got a raw deal. The series, set in the same world as 2025 ’s Superman , is being developed for Max and marks the DCU’s first stab at a mock-doc format, with American Vandal duo Dan Perrault and Tony Yacenda steering the show.
- Skyler Gisondo — Jimmy Olsen
- Beck Bennett — Steve Lombard
- Mikaela Hoover — Cat Grant
- Wendell Pierce — Perry White
How it started
Gisondo said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that the Grodd idea was in the mix long before cameras rolled on Gunn’s Superman. He also noted James Gunn ’s plan from the jump was to frame it like a mockumentary.
"I guess like it was one of the first ideas early even before the movie. "
The actor added he’d heard about the project early and was into it, but tried not to get attached until it was official. Gunn has said he and DC Studios co-chief Peter Safran had kicked around pitches for Lanterns and this Grodd offshoot before they formally took over the DCU slate.
Story-wise, the show puts Olsen in front of the camera as the host of a true-crime series inside the series, with fellow Daily Planet reporters helping him dig into Grodd’s conviction. With Perrault and Yacenda at the helm and several Superman faces returning, it’s a left-turn genre play designed to widen the DCU around Metropolis’ newsroom.