HBO Max Orders The People v. Gorilla Grodd Spin-Off

3 Minutes

Picture a true-crime podcast with a twist: the defendant is a hyper-intelligent gorilla, the investigator is Jimmy Olsen, and the courtroom drama unfolds like a mockumentary. That odd, irresistible premise is exactly what HBO Max just greenlit.

HBO Max has given a straight-to-series order for an eight-episode, half-hour comedy titled The People v. Gorilla Grodd. Produced by DC Studios and Warner Bros. Television, the show reimagines Superman’s universe through a crime-doc lens — equal parts satire, detective work and superhero lore.

The series will star Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen and Jimmi Tatro as Gorilla Grodd. Expect a faux-documentary tone: intimate interviews, archival-style footage and the kind of awkwardly revealing moments that true-crime fans devour. The first season zeroes in on Grodd, the telepathic ape who — after an encounter with an alien spacecraft — gained extraordinary mental powers and, according to the new story, stood accused of killing his father, the king of Gorilla City.

Gorilla Grodd is hardly a newcomer to comic-book pages or the small screen. Created in 1959 by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, Grodd has popped up across DC continuities and even made appearances in the Arrowverse. Here, his origin and reputation are peeled back to ask a simple, provocative question: was he really guilty?

The supporting cast reunites familiar faces from recent Superman projects. Beck Bennett returns as Steve Lombard, Mikaela Hoover is back as Cat Grant, and Wendell Pierce reprises Perry White. Joining them are Mary Holland, Eduardo Franco, Arian Moayed, Dan Povenmire, Andrew Leeds and Tim Baltz — an ensemble that leans into comedy while anchoring the show’s investigative pulse.

Tony Yacenda and Dan Povenmire serve as showrunners, writers and executive producers, with Yacenda set to direct every episode. James Gunn and Peter Safran also remain attached as executive producers, tying the series into the broader creative direction at DC Studios.

As described, The People v. Gorilla Grodd follows Jimmy Olsen of the Daily Planet as he reopens one of Metropolis’s most notorious cases. The eight-episode arc promises to blend procedural beats with satire: courtroom whispers, fan theories run wild, and the messy human (and simian) faces behind a headline. Will the series play the trial for laughs, for commentary, or for both? That’s part of the draw.

This series arrives alongside other new DC projects on HBO Max, such as Lanterns and Stuart Fails To Save the Universe, signaling the streamer’s appetite for tonal variety — from grounded drama to absurdist comedy. No premiere date has been announced yet, but with casting locked and creative teams in place, production looks set to move quickly.

Whether you come for the superhero connections or the mock-trial intrigue, The People v. Gorilla Grodd aims to be unlike most DC outings: a genre mash-up that asks us to laugh while we reconsider who gets labeled a monster. Ready to reopen the case?