HBO Max has greenlit The People v. Gorilla Grodd, an eight-episode mockumentary series set within James Gunn's interconnected DC Universe. The project centers on the legal proceedings surrounding the telepathic primate and blends returning talent from the 2025 Superman feature with a roster of comedy actors.
Creative Team and Production
Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault created the series, holding roles as writers, executive producers, and showrunners. Yacenda directs every episode of the eight-part run. James Gunn and Peter Safran executive produce alongside the showrunners, linking the television production directly to the overarching narrative architecture of DC Studios and Warner Bros. Television.
The format applies a documentary lens to a comic book premise, tracking the prosecution and defense arguments in a high-profile trial involving the supervillain. The narrative format mirrors investigative true-crime parodies while maintaining continuity with the cinematic side of the franchise.
Cast and Character Lineup
Jimmy Tatro leads the cast in the title role of Gorilla Grodd. Several actors from the 2025 Superman film reprise their roles for the proceedings, including Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, Beck Bennett as Steve Lombard, Mikaela Hoover as Cat Grant, and Wendell Pierce as Perry White.
The ensemble expands with the addition of Arian Moayed, Mary Holland, Eduardo Franco, Andrew Leeds, Tim Baltz, and Dan Perrault, filling out the lawyers, witnesses, and media figures surrounding the courtroom drama.
The series represents a structural expansion for Gunn's DC Universe, utilizing a television format and a comedic mockumentary style to explore the fallout of comic book events on ordinary institutions. By positioning a fictional legal battle around a supervillain at the center of an eight-episode order, DC Studios continues its strategy of varying genres across different platforms, connecting theatrical releases directly to serialized television without relying solely on traditional action formats.
This tonal versatility highlights a deliberate effort to establish a multifaceted media landscape where monumental superhero conflicts intersect with mundane bureaucratic systems. Examining the logistics of prosecuting a hyper-intelligent, telepathic gorilla forces the universe's legal and journalistic entities to confront the absurd realities of living in a world populated by metahumans and cosmic threats.
The involvement of the Daily Planet staff—featuring the return of Gisondo's eager photojournalist, Bennett's brash sports columnist, Hoover's sharp gossip writer, and Pierce's authoritative editor-in-chief—suggests that the media's framing of the trial will serve as a primary lens for the audience. Their presence bridges the gap between the grand-scale superheroics of the cinematic features and the ground-level satirical perspective of the mockumentary. Meanwhile, the integration of new comedic talents such as Moayed, Holland, Franco, Leeds, Baltz, and Perrault ensures that the courtroom and its surrounding media circus are populated by a diverse array of eccentric attorneys, biased pundits, and bewildered citizens.
By entrusting the project to Yacenda and Perrault, DC Studios demonstrates a willingness to lean into specific comedic subgenres that have proven successful in modern television. The creative team's background in satirical storytelling positions the courtroom battle as not just a humorous diversion, but as a clever examination of public spectacle, media sensationalism, and institutional justice. As production moves forward, the eight-episode arch promises to deliver a unique blend of franchise world-building and sharp comedic commentary, proving that the cinematic universe can successfully accommodate stories far removed from traditional heroic action.
