Jimmy Tatro Officially Boards DC’s Jimmy Olsen ‘Superman’ Spinoff Series As Gorilla Grodd

EXCLUSIVE: Jimmy Tatro will officially bring to life DC’s Gorilla Grodd in the upcoming Superman spinoff series from HBO Max centering on Jimmy Olsen, sources tell Deadline. While the casting will add to the buzz around the project, HBO has yet to officially greenlight the series.

As Deadline reported last week, Tatro was in talks to join the DC Universe as the hyper-intelligent telepathic ape who has sought to rule both the simian and human worlds, though the Flash has frequently thwarted his plans.

The spinoff is billed as being akin to a true-crime docuseries with Jimmy Olsen (played by Skyler Gisondo in the summer blockbuster directed by James Gunn) from Superman hosting. Season 1 reportedly will be centered around DC bad guy Gorilla Grodd, who often wrestles The Flash.

Grodd had psychic powers and other skills after his encounter with an alien spaceship. The character was created in 1959 by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, and was most recently featured as part of DC’s Arrowverse.

HBO Max declined to comment for this story.

The Jimmy Olsen series comes from Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault, creators of Netflix’s American Vandal series, a true-crime satire series that ran from 2017-18. They’ll write, executive produce and showrun the series. DC Studios bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran are EPs, with Galen Vaisman overseeing production. Warner Bros. Television is also producing.

Tatro’s casting arrives at a busy time in his career. The SoCal native is currently promoting his next project, the Will Ferrell Netflix golf comedy series The Hawk. His series regular character Lance is the son of Ferrell’s titular character, who is an incredible pro golfer in his own right. His prior TV credits also include ABC’s Home Economics, in which he was a main cast member and he directed one episode, and Netflix’s mockumentary series American Vandal.

Up next on the big screen, Tatro will again star opposite Ferrell in the Nicholas Stoller-directed Judgment Day. Before, Tatro starred in Kevin Williamson’s Scream 7, Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice, and in Amazon’s You’re Cordially Invited, also with Ferrell, and 22 Jump Street, to name a few.