Since her comic-book debut in 1966, Poison Ivy has been a staple of Batman’s rogues gallery, yet The Hollywood Reporter notes that she has never fronted a television series of her own, which is exactly what HBO may now be working toward. Deadline reported on October 21st that “The Penguin” showrunner Lauren LeFranc is in talks to join a “Poison Ivy” series from Warner Bros. and DC Comics as a producer. The Hollywood Reporter says it has confirmed the news, and Variety says the show is in the works at HBO. In plain terms this is development, not a series order, and none of the reports says HBO has bought a pilot or a season.
How much of a step forward this is depends on who is doing the stepping, and the early details are thin. Deadline says LeFranc would only be producing the series and not writing it, while TheWrap adds that no writers are attached and that the series has not been greenlit by the network. HBO declined to comment, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which describes the project as being in its early stages. Deadline says it has been tracking the project for many months, with plans to move forward on pause because of the Paramount and Warner Bros. merger. Warning beyond this point there are spoilers for “The Penguin”.
In plain terms this is development, not a series order, and none of the reports says HBO has bought a pilot or a season.”
The question fans will ask first is where the show would live, and the reporting answers only half of it. Deadline, citing sources, says the series would not be part of Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” universe, the world led by Robert Pattinson as the Dark Knight, and both The Hollywood Reporter and TheWrap repeat that. Beyond that point the outlets split. ComicBookMovie.com writes that the show would be set in the DCU if it moves forward, Slashfilm says it will “presumably” be developed for James Gunn’s franchise, and ScreenCrush notes that Variety’s report does not say which world it belongs to. The Hollywood Reporter calls it a project for HBO and DC Studios, but none of the reports quotes either company on the point, so the DCU looks like the likely home and not a confirmed one.
The project also has a stop-start history that complicates the picture. In August, ComicBookMovie.com relayed a report from The Ankler that DC and HBO had passed on pitches for Poison Ivy and Catwoman shows, adding that the Poison Ivy show had been rumored to be set in Reeves’ Batman world. Geek Culture, covering the same report, tied the rejections to the box-office results of “Supergirl,” though it described that link as speculation. Two months later Deadline says the project is alive, and ComicBookMovie.com now says it was put to one side while the merger took place. Those accounts are hard to reconcile, and none of the reports explains whether the August pitches and this project are the same thing, so that question stays open.
LeFranc arrives with a strong calling card. “The Penguin” debuted on HBO in 2024, followed Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell) after the events of Reeves’ 2022 film, and became what The Hollywood Reporter calls a ratings hit and a critical darling, with Reeves serving as an executive producer. The eight-episode series won nine Emmys in 2025, including Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series for Cristin Milioti, according to TheWrap, which also counted 24 nominations. Before that, LeFranc was a writer and producer on “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and worked on “Chuck,” “Impulse” and “My Own Worst Enemy,” per Deadline. TheWrap reported in August of 2025 that she signed a two-year overall deal with HBO and HBO Max, and in this week’s story it says the Poison Ivy project would fall under that deal, a detail the other reports do not mention.
Whether Gotham’s Penguin story continues is a separate matter. The Hollywood Reporter notes that HBO has not renewed “The Penguin” for a second season, and “The Batman Part II” is slated for February 18th, 2028. The AV Club reported on August 31st that Farrell has repeatedly expressed “no deep desire” to return to Gotham, while LeFranc still hopes Sofia (Cristin Milioti) “lives on in the canon.” A Poison Ivy series outside Reeves’ world would share a producer with “The Penguin” without sharing its setting, and what that signals about HBO’s plans for the original show is a matter of reading, not anything the network has said.
The timing is hard to miss. The news arrived the same week “Clayface,” James Watkins’ film about another Batman villain, opened in theaters, and Variety notes that film is unconnected to Pattinson and Reeves’ world. HBO’s wider DC slate is busy too: Gizmodo points out that “Lanterns” just wrapped its first season, and Variety says HBO will air the comedic, villain-focused “Superman” spinoff “The People v. Gorilla Grodd” sometime in 2027. TheWrap reported that HBO Max gave that show a straight-to-series order, which is a step the Poison Ivy project has not reached. Gizmodo’s view is that Poison Ivy “seems like a solid next bet” if DC wants more live-action HBO shows, which is the outlet’s opinion and not a studio plan. ComicBookMovie.com adds that fans may wonder why a Poison Ivy series is moving ahead while “The Brave and the Bold” remains in limbo and the DCU still has no Batman, and it says this news may or may not be a sign that is about to change, which is speculation and not a report.
The character’s screen record is long, but it is lopsided. Uma Thurman played her in Joel Schumacher’s “Batman & Robin” in 1997, a performance ScreenCrush says had a “decidedly over-the-top flavor.” On television, Peyton List played her on Fox’s “Gotham” and Bridget Regan on The CW’s “Batwoman,” and Deadline lists Clare Foley and Maggie Geha among other notable names. Animation is where she has lived most: Variety cites “Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” “The New Batman Adventures” and “Young Justice,” ComicBookMovie.com adds “Batman: The Animated Series” with Diane Pershing, and Lake Bell voices her in “Harley Quinn” as the title character’s partner. Deadline observes that apart from “Harley Quinn,” she has not been very active in recent DC Studios projects.
What the series would actually be is anyone’s guess. Slashfilm floats two comic models, the horror-leaning “Absolute Batman” run, which it thinks would be unlikely to coexist with the mainstream goals of Gunn’s DC Universe, and G. Willow Wilson’s “Poison Ivy” series, in which Pamela Isley becomes Mayor of Gotham City. Those are Slashfilm’s own ideas, not anything HBO or DC has described. Deadline describes Isley as a character who controls anyone she wants with pheromones and commands the flora around her, and that mix of powers might give a writer room to lean toward the villain, the ecoterrorist or the antihero. ScreenCrush adds that the character has evolved in recent years into more of an antihero and has headlined her own monthly DC comic, something it says cannot be said of the Penguin or Clayface.
Casting is wide open as well. Deadline, TheWrap and ComicBookMovie.com all say nobody has been cast as Pamela Isley, and none of the reports names a writer, showrunner, director, episode count or premiere date. Slashfilm says it remains to be seen whether the new Skydance regime under David Ellison will give the production an official green light, noting that the merger between Warner Bros. Discovery and Skydance Paramount is still inching toward the finish line. Until HBO or DC Studios says more, “in development” is the most that can be stated, and the first real milestone will be a writer, a lead or an order.
What Do You Think? Should a “Poison Ivy” series live outside Matt Reeves’ Gotham, or does it belong in the DCU? Would you rather see Lauren LeFranc write the show than only produce it? And who should play Pamela Isley?
See you on the next binge!
