HBO is developing a Poison Ivy series, and The Penguin’s showrunner may produce it

Here we go again: Poison Ivy just might be getting her own live-action TV show. Yes, the same one who’s usually cluttering up Gotham with questionable shrubs and even more questionable ethics. This time, though, she isn’t just dropping in as a sidekick or romantic subplot—there are actual plans brewing for her to headline an entire series. Consider me curious, and, frankly, a bit surprised it's taken this long.

Matt Reeves, discussing the future of The Penguin, told press: "We’re in discussions. [Showrunner] Lauren [LeFranc] is thinking hard and we’re talking, so we’ll see. We love the show, and we think our cast is so incredible. The work that Lauren and the writers did was incredible. Our passion was in it, but never in our wildest dreams could we imagine it would have been received in the way that it was."

What’s actually happening?

So, Deadline says this long-mooted Poison Ivy TV project is officially back on the table, after spending a bit of time on ice during the whole Paramount and Warner Bros. merger shuffle. Not hard to see why it got lost in the corporate cracks, but apparently it’s thawed out now. The latest twist: they’re trying to bring in Lauren LeFranc—the brains behind that pretty decent Penguin series—as a producer. Before you get too excited, she wouldn’t be writing the thing, just overseeing things from the producer’s chair (assuming talks don’t implode, as Hollywood talks so often do).

The new Poison Ivy live-action series is still in very early development, with no writers or confirmed cast attached yet.

Here’s the current pitch: if all goes well, this would air on HBO, following the same pattern as The Penguin. One big catch, though—it’s not going to be linked to Matt Reeves’ version of Batman or that specific Gotham universe, which honestly might give it a bit of needed breathing room. But at this stage, it’s all first-draft wishlists: no scripts, no stars, nada.

A bit of Poison Ivy history

Right, reminder: Poison Ivy—real name Dr. Pamela Lillian Isley—made her debut in the comics back in 1966, thanks to artist Carmine Infantino and writers Sheldon Moldoff and Robert Kanigher. Her powers are a roll call of eco-terrorist fantasy: she can control plants, unleash mind-control pheromones, and is immune to every poison or toxin you could shake a trowel at.

Despite being one of Batman’s more iconic adversaries, Ivy’s rarely been given centre stage. Most will picture Uma Thurman’s slightly unhinged version from that gloriously garish Batman & Robin film, but she’s cropped up across a fair few TV shows as well—Batman: The Animated Series, Gotham, Batwoman, and, more recently, as Lake Bell’s slightly less theatrical voice role in Harley Quinn (where, for anyone keeping track, she and Harley are a couple).

• The Poison Ivy character debuted in Batman #181 (1966).
• Live-action versions include Uma Thurman and appearances in Gotham, Batwoman, and others.
• Voiced by Lake Bell in the recent Harley Quinn animated series.

The Penguin spin-off and beyond?

As for why we’re getting more Gotham-adjacent series on HBO: the first season of The Penguin (with Colin Farrell putting up with a mountain of prosthetics) was a solid hit for the network. Whether there’ll be a second season, though, is one of those classic ‘wait and see’ questions. Apparently Farrell isn’t quite as mad about the hours in the make-up chair as he is about playing Oswald Cobblepot—but let’s be honest, money talks. Matt Reeves and LeFranc are still having chats. Meanwhile, Ivy’s green thumb adventure is only just getting started, if it gets off the blocks at all.