DC's Jimmy Olsen Gets a True-Crime Comedy on HBO Max
HBO Max has ordered an eight-part Jimmy Olsen mockumentary from the American Vandal creators, set inside James Gunn's DC Universe.
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Metropolis Gets Its Own True-Crime Podcast
HBO Max has given a straight-to-series order to The People v. Gorilla Grodd, an eight-episode half-hour comedy from DC Studios and Warner Bros. Television. Skyler Gisondo plays Jimmy Olsen and Jimmy Tatro plays Grodd, in a show structured as a true-crime docuseries made inside the DC Universe.
The premise: Jimmy Olsen reopens one of Metropolis’ most notorious murder cases for the Daily Planet, investigating whether Gorilla Grodd was wrongly convicted.
Why It Matters for Dads
The interesting part is not the gorilla. It is who is making it. Perrault and Yacenda made American Vandal, which took the true-crime documentary format completely seriously in service of an absurd premise and turned out to be one of the sharpest things Netflix ever aired. Handing them a superhero universe is the least predictable thing DC Studios has done since Gunn took over.
What it signals for a household is more useful than the show itself right now: the DCU is going to be wide, not just a stack of films. A comedy about a newspaper photographer investigating a talking gorilla’s murder trial is not something you need to have seen anything else to follow — and after a decade of Marvel demanding homework before every release, a DC universe with genuinely standalone entries is a real argument in its favour. If you want the current state of that universe, our DC Hub tracks what connects to what.
The obvious caveat: a mockumentary about a murder trial is not a family watch, whatever the animated-gorilla mental image suggests. American Vandal was rated for adults and this looks like the same register. For genuinely kid-facing superhero content, the LEGO Classic TV Series Batmobile and the Batman Arkham reviews are safer ground.
What’s Next
No release window, no episode-order timing, no word on whether Grodd is CG. Given that HBO Max ordered it straight to series, production should move quickly — expect a date before this one gets a trailer.
The Dadnology Take
Two guys who once made a fake documentary about spray-painted cars into genuinely great television are now being handed a talking gorilla and a newspaper. That is either the best idea DC Studios has had this year or a complete misfire, and there is very little space between those two outcomes.
Worth being curious about. Not worth planning a family movie night around.
What is The People v. Gorilla Grodd?
Who stars in The People v. Gorilla Grodd?
Is it connected to James Gunn's Superman?
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