DC's Jimmy Olsen gets a true-crime comedy on HBO Max

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.

What is The People v. Gorilla Grodd?

An eight-episode, half-hour comedy ordered straight to series by HBO Max. It is structured as a true-crime docuseries made inside the DC Universe, in which Jimmy Olsen reopens Gorilla Grodd’s murder conviction for the Daily Planet to ask whether he was wrongly convicted.

Who stars in The People v. Gorilla Grodd?

Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen and Jimmy Tatro as Gorilla Grodd, with Superman cast members returning: Beck Bennett as Steve Lombard, Mikaela Hoover as Cat Grant and Wendell Pierce as Perry White. It comes from Dan Perrault and Tony Yacenda, the creators of American Vandal.

Is it connected to James Gunn's Superman?

Yes. It expands the world of Gunn’s Superman film and brings several Daily Planet staff back, which makes it part of the same DC Universe continuity rather than a standalone spin-off.