General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20266 min read

The People v. Gorilla Grodd

The People v. Gorilla Grodd is an upcoming American eight-episode half-hour comedy series for HBO Max, produced by DC Studios in association with Warner Bros. Television, presented as a true-crime mockumentary in which Daily Planet photojournalist Jimmy Olsen reopens the investigation into whether the supervillain Gorilla Grodd was wrongly convicted of murdering his father, the King of Gorilla City.¹ It stars Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, reprising his role from James Gunn's Superman, with Jimmy Tatro as Gorilla Grodd.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Format	Eight-episode, straight-to-series half-hour comedy structured as a "true" crime docuseries¹
Order	Announced by HBO Max on August 21, 2026¹
Creators	Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault, the team behind Netflix's American Vandal, as showrunners, writers, and executive producers; Yacenda directs all episodes¹^•²
Lead cast	Skyler Gisondo (Jimmy Olsen), Jimmy Tatro (Gorilla Grodd), Beck Bennett (Steve Lombard), Mikaela Hoover (Cat Grant), Wendell Pierce (Perry White)¹
Premise	Grodd was convicted of murdering his father, King Grodd; Olsen reopens the case as one of Metropolis' most famous murder trials¹^•³
Production	Filming in Atlanta, Georgia, including at the Georgia Institute of Technology, through October 2026²
DCU placement	Set after the events of Man of Tomorrow in overall continuity, and will not be released before that film⁴

Spoilers

Premise and format

The series is framed as an in-universe documentary. The logline that was announced has a highly intelligent ape found guilty of killing his father, the ruler of Gorilla City, while the Daily Planet's Jimmy Olsen takes up the case again, looking into whether Gorilla Grodd may have been unjustly found guilty in a murder trial counted among Metropolis' best known.¹ The in-universe synopsis describes the show as taking "a fresh, 360-degree look at the case, revealing the 'lesser-seen side'" of Grodd, with Olsen granted exclusive access to interview him inside Stryker's Island Penitentiary.³

In the fictional account, Grodd has consistently maintained that he did not kill and eat the brain of his father, King Grodd; he was found guilty of the offense in March 2021 and has been held in prison ever since. The documentary includes new reporting from Daily Planet staff and interviews with witnesses and experts on both Grodd's side and the Metropolis District Attorney's side, including Grodd's new counsel at the Metropolis Freedom Project.³

The showrunners described the intended effect as a series that "feels less like an entry into the DCU and more like an artifact from it, a Daily Planet original documentary made for the people of Metropolis."¹ James Gunn, DC Studios' co-chairman and co-CEO and an executive producer on the series, characterized it as "a DCU true crime docuseries" when rejecting comparisons to She-Hulk and Invincible.⁵

Cast and crew

Skyler Gisondo leads as Jimmy Olsen, a role he played in Superman and will reprise in its sequel Man of Tomorrow.¹^•⁴ Jimmy Tatro plays Gorilla Grodd.¹ The series reunites the Daily Planet newsroom cast from Superman: Beck Bennett as Steve Lombard, Mikaela Hoover as Cat Grant, and Wendell Pierce as Perry White.¹^•⁴ Additional cast includes Mary Holland, Eduardo Franco, Arian Moayed, Dan Perrault, Andrew Leeds, and Tim Baltz.¹

Behind the camera, Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault, creators of Netflix's true-crime mockumentary American Vandal, serve as showrunners, writers, and executive producers, with Yacenda directing all episodes.¹ James Gunn and Peter Safran, DC Studios' Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs, also executive produce.¹

Production

HBO Max gave the project an eight-episode, straight-to-series order announced on August 21, 2026.¹ Filming began in Atlanta, Georgia, in early September 2026, less than three weeks after the greenlight, with the Georgia Institute of Technology campus dressed as Metropolis University, complete with blue-and-purple banners.⁶^•⁷ The Production List entry records the series as in production with a wrap date of October 2026.²

A practical Grodd. Set photos and videos leaked in September 2026 showed a performer in a practical gorilla suit rather than a digital character: Grodd in a sweater vest and casual attire, in a graduation cap and gown, dancing in a tuxedo, and performing with an a cappella group while serenading a young woman with the Backstreet Boys song "As Long as You Love Me."⁸^•⁹ Industry listings state that the practical suit may be enhanced or replaced with CGI in post-production.² Skyler Gisondo said in a September 2026 interview that the production would use surprisingly little CGI, and that the show had been one of James Gunn's earliest DCU ideas.¹⁰ The suit's clothing prompted fan speculation that the costumed ape might be a different DC character, since Grodd does not wear clothes in the comics.¹¹

Place in the DC Universe

The series is the fourth television show set in the DC Universe (DCU) and the first new project not announced in DC Studios' initial slate for the franchise.⁴ Its timeline placement was the subject of conflicting statements: Gisondo initially said the series takes place between Superman and Man of Tomorrow, but Gunn clarified on social media that "overall in continuity, it's after MoT (and won't come out until then)," adding that "it's a true crime series, so it jumps all over the place."⁴ Because Man of Tomorrow releases on July 9, 2027, the series will not premiere before that date.⁴

HBO chief Casey Bloys confirmed in September 2026 that it was the only TV series in active development at DC Studios, telling Deadline: "you've got [The People v] Gorilla Grodd, which I'm very happy about, [they're] doing something different, and I think it's a really fun idea."¹²

The comic-book character

Gorilla Grodd is a long-running DC Comics villain: a hyper-intelligent telepathic ape who, per DC's official character profile, evolved past common gorillas after a chance encounter with an alien race and has sought to rule both the simian and human worlds, repeatedly thwarted by the Flash. He first appeared in The Flash #106 in 1959, and his listed powers include telepathy, telekinesis, super strength, superhuman agility, intelligence, and combat strategy.¹³ The series marks Grodd's second live-action TV outing, after his run as a recurring foe on The CW's The Flash, where he was voiced by David Sobolov.¹⁴

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026