Superman's Jimmy Olsen TV Spin-Off Coming From The Creators Of A Beloved Netflix Series

DCU honchos James Gunn and Peter Safran have been hitting bullseyes with their creative hires on both the film and television side of things (though I'm still a little bummed we won't be getting a "Booster Gold" series from Danny McBride). After all, lots of hugely talented folks in this industry tend to be steeped in comic book lore, and, under the right circumstances, would leap at the opportunity to play in that sandbox. Gunn and Safran seem to be providing such circumstances, which is why, per The Hollywood Reporter, we are about to get a Jimmy Olsen spin-off series from the creators of the brilliant Netflix series "American Vandal."

The Emmys might've ignored Dan Perrault and Tony Yacenda's true crime mockumentary about the juvenile crimes being committed at Hanover High School, but the duo earned a much more prestigious Peabody Award for their series, and went on to make the equally fun Esports mockumentary "Players" for Paramount+. Now they get to team up with the great Skyler Gisondo, whose scene-stealing portrayal of Daily Planet photographer and newsroom utility man Jimmy Olsen screamed out for a standalone series.

The notion of this team getting to run wild with a ladies' man version of Clark Kent and Lois Lane's ace in the hole is reason to rejoice in and of itself. But the fact that the first season will find Olsen applying his investigative reporting expertise to exposing the misdeeds of longtime Flash supervillain Gorilla Grodd should have every comic book fan giggling like goons. This could be something truly special and utterly insane.

It does not surprise me that Gunn is a huge fan of the deeply subversive "American Vandal," but I wonder just how much creative leeway he intends to grant Perrault and Yacenda. Does he want a mockumentary approach, which will find Olsen working with a Daily Planet camera crew as he tracks down the whereabouts of Gorilla Grodd, a once regular ol' gorilla who, after an alien spaceship crashes in his neck of the jungle, is suddenly transformed into a hyper-intelligent ape possessed with the power of telepathy and mind control? Boy, I hope so.

Gorilla Grodd is a longtime fan-favorite of a supervillain because, well, re-read that origin story (/Film's Devin Meenan correctly clamored for his inclusion in the DCU). He was created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino in 1959 as a foe for The Flash, but he's tangled with Batman and Superman over the last 66 years. He also showed up in the HBO Max series "Creature Commandos." Could this be a way to backdoor The Flash's introduction in the DCU? It's possible, but I'm just tickled by the idea of Olsen using his inexplicable charisma to work sources and get to the bottom of whatever Gorilla Grodd is up to. I hope they keep it small, and I pray that they let Perrault and Yacenda indulge in their whip-smart satiric sensibilities.

We don't know much else at this point, but this feels like an inspired match of writers and source material. I hope this is fast-tracked, because I need this in my veins ASAP.