Warner Bros. cancels new Batman series from J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves at HBO Max

Among the many cancellations at Warner Bros. Discovery, it's now come to light that the planned Batman: Caped Crusader animated series will no longer be going ahead at HBO Max.

As reported by Variety, Batman: Caped Crusader has been scrapped on the streaming platform with the company now expected to shop around the highly anticipated show. Initially commissioned in May last year, J.J. Abrams, The Batman director Matt Reeves and Bruce Timm (who co-created the original show) are all attached to executive produce.

It was said to follow on from the beloved Batman: The Animated Series that ran from 1992 to 1995, though no word on casting has been made yet. According to comments from THR reporter Borys Kit (via Twitter), Batman Caped Crusader is "deep in production" and stated that"it will show up somewhere". 

Alongside this, five more shows have suffered the same fate, including: Merry Little Batman, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, Bye Bye Bunny: A Looney Tunes Musical, Did I Do That to The Holidays: A Steve Urkel Story and The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie.

T3 has reached out to Warner Bros. for comment. 

As a huge fan of Batman: The Animated series – arguably one of the best depictions of the Dark Knight in all media, thanks to amazing performances from Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Arleen Sorkin and such – the move seems bizarre. From day one, Batman: Caped Crusader has had enormous excitement behind it and it's hard to believe a series held in such high calibre with an IP as strong as Batman would not succeed. I'm at least quite confident that another streamer will pick it up. 

This is the second major Batman project to face issues since the Warner Bros. Discovery merger – most notably, the $90 million Batgirl movie starring Leslie Grace that was shelved for good earlier this month. It's also the second project from J.J. Abrams that has faced issues, following the decision by the firm to not produce his sci-fi drama series Demimonde. 

Next to this, The Flash film is another DC project to encounter problems with its main star, Ezra Miller, involved in several legal incidents. While an apology was made by the actor last week for a number of scandals, could the $200 million movie be next on the chopping board? It seems nothing is safe at the minute. 

More recently, Warner Bros. cancelled Little Ellen from US comedian and former talk show host Ellen DeGeneres less than 12 months after it premiered on HBO Max. Additionally, it resulted in more than 30 titles being removed from the streaming service with no word of where they may end up.