James Gunn's Superman is getting a TV spin-off starring Skyler Gisondo, reprising his movie role as Superman's pal, Jimmy Olsen (via THR). The show will be created by American Vandal showrunners Dan Perrault and Tony Yacenda, with the focus on Jimmy Olsen and the rest of the Daily Planet gang investigating stories involving supervillains.
That said, the aforementioned "Daily Planet gang" reportedly does not include David Corenswet's Clark Kent and Rachel Brosnahan's Lois Lane, which makes sense as they're undoubtedly busy filming Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow. It seems everyone else could be on the table - and I personally wouldn't rule out at least a cameo from Clark and Lois.
The first season of the Jimmy Olsen show will focus on a classic DC villain, Gorilla Grodd. Created all the way back in the early days of the Silver Age DC Universe in 1959's The Flash #106 by writer John Broome and artist Carmine Infantino, Grodd is a super-intelligent gorilla with psychic powers who aims to conquer the hidden kingdom of Gorilla City and then the world.
Jimmy Olsen has often taken a starring role in comics, with his own title, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, publishing off and on from the '40s until the present day. Jimmy's classic adventures have usually centered on the cub reporter suffering bizarre outcomes from encounters with sci-fi plots, such as temporarily gaining super powers, or becoming a 50-foot-tall man-turtle hybrid kaiju.
With that level of eccentricity potentially on the table, it makes total sense to bring in Grodd, who is one of DC's weirdest cult-favorite villains.
Personally, this is exactly the kind of thing I want to see as a Superman spin-off - a humorous, slightly wacky adventure centered on some of the less obvious corners of the DC Universe. Gisondo also makes sense as a lead for a big budget show thanks to his TV experience, which includes the recently wrapped Righteous Gemstones.
While we wait for more details, make sure to stay up to date on all the upcoming DC movies and shows in the works.
