The DCU keeps expanding its TV slate with unexpected swings after the success of Superman. Gorilla GroddFresh set photos now offer the first glimpse of Gorilla Grodd’s stand-in from The People v. Gorilla Grodd.
Shared widely on September 9 by fan accounts, the images capture a practical placeholder mingling with extras.
The figure wears what looks like gray graduation robes and a cap. Bikes and trees fill the frame on a U.S. university campus. Fans immediately zeroed in on the cap-and-gown look with jokes about a college flashback for the ape. Most noted the stand-in serves only as reference. Jimmy Tatro’s Grodd will almost certainly arrive fully CGI.
HBO Max ordered the eight-episode half-hour comedy weeks earlier in August. Skyler Gisondo reprises Jimmy Olsen from Superman. Tatro plays the superintelligent ape accused of murdering his father, the King of Gorilla City. Gisondo’s character reopens the case through a true-crime docuseries style for the Daily Planet.
Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault created the series. The pair behind American Vandal serve as showrunners and writers. Yacenda directs every episode. Perrault also appears in the cast. James Gunn and Peter Safran executive produce.
“We’re excited by the challenge of creating a series that feels less like an entry into the DCU and more like an artifact from it,” Yacenda and Perrault said in a joint statement. “A Daily Planet original documentary made for the people of Metropolis.”
Gunn and Safran added their own take. “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.”
Wendell Pierce returns as Perry White. Beck Bennett plays Steve Lombard. Mikaela Hoover is back as Cat Grant. Mary Holland, Eduardo Franco, Arian Moayed, Andrew Leeds, and Tim Baltz round out the ensemble in undisclosed roles.
Filming kicked off quickly after the series order at the university location. The rapid start signals DC Studios’ push to keep momentum across film and streaming. No premiere date has been set yet.
The mockumentary format lets the show dig into Metropolis justice with humor. It treats the DCU itself as lived-in reality rather than pure spectacle. Early reactions mix laughs at the stand-in with genuine curiosity about how Tatro will voice and motion-capture the telepathic villain.
This playful entry sits alongside other DCU series as Gunn and Safran build out the universe. Viewers will soon see whether the true-crime lens delivers both laughs and deeper looks at its strangest characters.
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