Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the verdict is in: HBO Max has officially ordered an eight-episode half-hour comedy series titled The People vs Gorilla Grodd, and James Gunn could not be more delighted about it.
This mockumentary true-crime extravaganza stars Skyler Gisondo reprising his role as Jimmy Olsen from the 2025 Superman film, with Jimmy Tatro stepping into the big furry shoes (and even bigger brain) of the superintelligent ape himself.
If you’ve been waiting for the DCU to deliver something that feels like American Vandal crashed into the Daily Planet newsroom while a telepathic gorilla files an appeal, congratulations—your bizarre dreams have been greenlit.
Everything We Know About The People Vs Gorilla Grodd Show
The official logline for The People vs Gorilla Grodd is pure gold: A superintelligent ape is convicted of murdering his father, the King of Gorilla City. In an eight-part “true” crime docuseries, the Daily Planet’s Jimmy Olsen reopens the case, investigating whether Gorilla Grodd was wrongly convicted in one of Metropolis’ most famous murder trials.
Jimmy isn’t just the host—he’s directing the whole thing, scoring exclusive interviews with Grodd inside Stryker’s Island Penitentiary. The series will feature returning Superman faces including Beck Bennett as Steve Lombard, Mikaela Hoover as Cat Grant, and Wendell Pierce as Perry White, plus newcomers Mary Holland, Eduardo Franco, Arian Moayed, Dan Perrault, Andrew Leeds, and Tim Baltz.
James Gunn and Peter Safran, co-CEOs of DC Studios and executive producers on the show, made their enthusiasm crystal clear.
“Between Skyler’s wonderful performance and the fantastic chemistry of the Daily Planet cast, we knew coming out of Superman that this would be a fun world to explore,” they said. “We’re excited to work with the brilliant Dan Perrault and Tony Yacenda to take the audience down some of the darker and funnier streets and alleyways of the DCU as Jimmy spotlights the Metropolis criminal justice system for his docuseries.”
Gunn has also called it the DCU’s “first foray into the true crime genre,” which is the kind of sentence that makes you both laugh and slightly fear for the future of superhero storytelling.
The creative team behind The People vs Gorilla Grodd is perfect for the job. Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault, the masterminds of Netflix’s American Vandal, serve as showrunners, writers, and executive producers, with Yacenda directing all eight episodes.
Tatro, of course, starred in the first season of that show as the infamous vandal, so he already knows how to play a highly questionable suspect in a mockumentary. The overlap feels almost too perfect—like the universe is winking at us while a gorilla telepathically demands better representation.
This project has been bubbling under the surface for nearly a year. Reports first surfaced in November 2025 about a Jimmy Olsen-led true-crime series for HBO Max, sometimes jokingly (and incorrectly) referred to as “DC Crime”—a title Gunn publicly shot down. Casting rumors intensified over the summer, with Tatro locking in as Grodd and additional actors joining before the formal order.
Peter Safran even let slip earlier this year that filming would begin in 2026, which now looks right on schedule. Publications across the board—The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Variety, Entertainment Weekly, Nerdist, Inverse, Polygon, TVLine, and many more—have covered the announcement extensively.
So why is The People vs Gorilla Grodd such a brilliant move? Let’s make the case. First, it expands the DCU without needing another $200 million blockbuster. Jimmy Olsen is an underutilized gem—eager, slightly chaotic, and endlessly likable. Giving him a series where he gets to play amateur documentarian investigating a high-profile primate murder trial is peak Gunn energy: sincere, silly, and surprisingly grounded in character.
Second, Gorilla Grodd is long overdue for a proper live-action showcase. The character has been a cartoon menace for decades; putting him on trial for patricide (and alleged brain-eating) while claiming innocence is chef’s-kiss absurd. Third, the American Vandal DNA guarantees sharp satire. Expect razor-sharp jokes about media sensationalism, the justice system, and what happens when a telepathic gorilla starts giving exclusive prison interviews.
Popular internet rumors have swirled around the project for months—everything from “it’s secretly setting up the Flash” to “Grodd will break out and join the Legion of Doom by season’s end.” Some fans speculated it might be more dramatic than comedic, while others insisted the mockumentary format was too risky
The probability of those wilder theories proving true sits somewhere around “moderately plausible but don’t bet the farm.” The verified information points firmly to a self-contained comedy season focused on the trial and investigation, with room for DCU Easter eggs. Gunn has emphasized the fun, darker, funnier alleyways of Metropolis, not a multi-season epic.
That said, if The People vs Gorilla Grodd lands, it could easily become a recurring format—Jimmy tackling a new “case of the season” every year. The internet’s collective “this is either genius or madness” reaction has a high chance of aging into “this is pure genius.”
Some Closing Thoughts
In short, The People vs Gorilla Grodd is the kind of left-field swing that makes the new DCU feel alive. It’s funny, it’s weird, it’s rooted in characters we already love, and it trusts audiences to roll with a true-crime show about a gorilla who may or may not have eaten his dad’s brain. James Gunn and company have once again proven they’re willing to chase the joke all the way to the courthouse steps. Court is now in session—pass the popcorn and try not to get mind-controlled.
