Many say that television is in a golden age right now, where it is just as high-budget as the film industry, and just as respected. TV shows are a great way to tell an extended story that wouldn't fit into the time constraints of a film, which is why many franchises — like Marvel, Star Wars, and DC — are branching out into the television world as well. It gives them a chance to expand on storylines and characters that they simply didn't have time for in the main films.
Matt Reeves, director of The Batman, has mentioned in the past that the plan was always to have spin-off TV shows that would expand the story that begins in The Batman. The idea was to explore more of the world without necessarily needing to have Batman at the center of all of it. So far, they've planned to do a show about the Penguin (with Colin Farrell attached), a series centered around the Gotham Police Department, a show about the infamous Arkham Asylum, and a series about Catwoman — though some of these ideas are just in the developmental stage or were put on hold at some point. With so many opportunities to expand the story of The Batman into the world of TV, it seems almost certain that DC will be taking advantage of it. But is this the right move?
This trend of franchises tying TV shows into their movie canon has been hotly debated as of late. It has worked fairly well for Marvel and Star Wars in a sense, because it has allowed them to elaborate on the stories of characters that were otherwise put to the wayside. And from a business standpoint, it obviously makes sense as another form of revenue. However, these franchises have been criticized for overstuffing their narratives with all of these TV shows, which can the franchises very difficult to follow.
At this point, it would be nearly impossible to get into the MCU without watching most of the main films as well as all of the TV shows that have been released so far. A new audience member couldn't really go into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness without first having seen WandaVision at the very least, because of how directly the two stories tie into each other. Likewise, Star Wars keeps calling back to its previous properties like the Clone Wars TV show in their new series, which means that in order to fully understand every reference and character cameo, one has to have seen that series as well.
In general, the overall story of a cinematic universe can feel cheap and bloated when it has been expanded upon too much. Sometimes less is more, because otherwise, fans will get quickly fatigued with the amount of content, no matter the quality. This is the danger that The Batman might run into if they truly make as many spinoff series as they plan to. One spin-off series might be fine, as the movie was so successful and fans are obviously clamoring for more, but making too many is just going to make the story incredibly hard to keep up with, and they might lose casual fans in the process.
Part of the beauty of The Batman is that it is unconnected from the other current DC film properties, and is allowed to exist on its own. This doesn't mean that it can't have sequels or spin-offs, but with too many spin-offs, it runs the risk of becoming its own extended cinematic universe, which just creates the problem that it had managed to avoid in the first place. It makes the story and the movie itself much more special and memorable if it isn't clouded by a thousand other storylines that all need to tie together in order to rope the movie canon in with the TV one.
To have at least two and possibly even three spinoffs in the works at the same time, when the movie has only just recently found its footing, seems like a bit of a gamble, and fans might find that they've been given too much of a good thing. With so many other versions of the character out there, the last thing DC should want to do is give fans Batman fatigue, especially after the excitement about Matt Reeves' fresh take on the Dark Knight.
The Batman seems to be taking lessons from Star Wars and Marvel as far as the benefits of making TV shows based on movie franchises go. However, they should also take notes on the drawbacks that those studios have faced and take a more careful approach to their own content. It would be a real shame to feel burnt out on The Batman content so soon, and if all of these shows become a reality, it's a big possibility that they could overshadow the success and critical reception of the film, especially if they're not up to par. It might be a better idea for them to take the "less is more" approach and try to prioritize the storytelling in the film part of the franchise before anything else.
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