“Justice League Dark” One Of Three Series To Air On HBO Max From Bad Robot

By Michelle McCue | April 21, 2020

HBO Max has announced it has given production commitments for three new high-octane one-hour dramas from J.J. Abrams and Katie McGrath’s Bad Robot Productions and Warner Bros. Television Group, marking the first new Bad Robot–produced television projects for HBO Max under the exclusive, wide-ranging content collaboration partnership formed by Bad Robot with HBO Max parent company WarnerMedia in fall 2019.

The first series “Duster,” is to be co-written by J.J. Abrams & LaToya Morgan. Set in the 1970’s Southwest, the life of a gutsy getaway driver for a growing crime syndicate goes from awful to wildly, stupidly, dangerously awful. Morgan is currently a writer on “The Walking Dead”. Previously, she was a co-executive producer and writer of AMC’s “Into the Badlands” and “TURN: Washington’s Spies,” and was a writer for NBC’s “Parenthood” and Showtime’s “Shameless.” Produced by Warner Bros. Television.

The second series, “Overlook,” is a horror-thriller series inspired by and featuring iconic characters from Stephen King’s masterpiece The Shining. “Overlook” explores the untold, terrifying stories of the most famous haunted hotel in American fiction. The project reunites Bad Robot, King and WBTV, who previously collaborated on the acclaimed psychological-horror series “Castle Rock” for Hulu.

The third will be a major series based on DC characters in the “Justice League Dark” Universe, details to be revealed soon.

While we wait for this series, you can catch up on the comics and animated movies.

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK the animated movie was released in 2017. The film stars Matt Ryan as John Constantine and Jason O’Mara reprising his role as Batman. https://www.dcuniverse.com/videos/watch/justice-league-dark/b02d614a-c497-4978-8aef-eaf6e86f3010/

Debuting in May 2020 is the R-Rated JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK: APOKOLIPS WAR. It features the largest Super Hero cast in the history of DC Universe Movies with dozens of actors/characters spotlighted in a grand ensemble of talent reprising their roles from this six-year story continuum. Matt Ryan (Legends of Tomorrow, Constantine), Jerry O’Connell (Carter, Bravo’s Play by Play, Stand by Me) and Taissa Farmiga (The Nun, The Mule, American Horror Story) anchor the cast as Constantine, Superman and Raven, respectively – the triumvirate determined to assemble the forces necessary to lead humanity’s final attack.

Alongside that trio are the long-running core of Justice League voices — Jason O’Mara (The Man in the High Castle, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) as Batman, Rosario Dawson (Briar Patch, Daredevil, Sin City) as Wonder Woman, Shemar Moore (S.W.A.T., Criminal Minds) as Cyborg and Christopher Gorham (Covert Affairs, Insatiable, Ugly Betty) as The Flash – as well as JL-adjacents Rebecca Romijn (X-Men, The Librarians) and Rainn Wilson (The Office, The Meg) as the voices of Lois Lane and Lex Luthor, respectively.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will distribute the film on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital in Spring 2020.

Over on the comics side… First appearing in Justice League Dark #1 (September 2011), the Justice League Dark originally featured John Constantine, Madame Xanadu, Deadman, Shade, the Changing Man, and Zatanna. The team consists of the more supernatural members of the DC Universe, handling situations deemed outside the scope of the traditional Justice League. https://www.dccomics.com/comics?seriesid=232465#browse

Read it on DC Universe here: https://www.dcuniverse.com/comics/series/justice-league-dark-2011/73f0ad59-ccdc-4470-97e7-9c311bc75abb

In the 2018 comic books, JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #1: Earth’s magic once belonged to them. Now they want the magic back. But who exactly are they? It’s up to the new Justice League Dark to find out and stop this nightmarish new threat at all costs! After the events of NO JUSTICE, team leader Wonder Woman guides the misfit magic mix of Zatanna, Swamp Thing, Man-Bat and Detective Chimp against enemies too fantastic even for the Justice League. Plus, what awful things are coming through the Tree of Wonder? Dark days ahead… https://www.dccomics.com/comics/justice-league-dark-2018/justice-league-dark-1

Read on DC Universe: https://www.dcuniverse.com/comics/series/justice-league-dark-2018/837403ff-6fd3-427a-a026-b56c041313c5

“What an amazing start to our association with the wildly imaginative Bad Robot team under J.J. and Katie,” said Kevin Reilly, Chief Content Officer, HBO Max and President, TNT, TBS, & truTV. “What could be better than an original J.J. idea and then Warner Bros. letting them loose on iconic I.P. from Stephen King and the DC Universe and to provide more must-have programming on HBO Max.” 

All of the Bad Robot series for HBO Max will be executive produced by J.J. Abrams and its Head of Television, Ben Stephenson. Rachel Rusch Rich, Bad Robot’s Executive Vice President of Television will serve as a co-executive producer. Warner Bros. International Television Distribution will be the global distributor for the programs.

Current Bad Robot television series produced through Warner Bros. Television include HBO’s “Westworld” and Hulu’s “Castle Rock,” the upcoming “Demimonde” (to be created by Abrams) and “Lovecraft Country” for HBO, as well as “Lisey’s Story,” “Little Voice” and “My Glory Was I Had Such Friends” for Apple TV+.