Poison Ivy Is Branching Out Into Her Own HBO Series
‘The Penguin’ showrunner Lauren LeFranc is in talks to produce.
Summary
HBO and DC Studios are developing a live-action series centered on 'Poison Ivy,' with Lauren LeFranc in talks to produce
The project is reportedly separate from Matt Reeves’ 'Batman' universe, setting it apart from LeFranc’s work on 'The Penguin'
The series would mark the first time the classic Batman villain has led her own television show
A Poison Ivy TV series is in early development at HBO and DC Studios, with The Penguin creator and showrunner Lauren LeFranc in talks to produce. Deadline first reported the project, and The Hollywood Reporter has since confirmed it. No writer or cast has been attached yet, and HBO has declined to comment on the series.
The most notable detail is where the show will not take place. Unlike The Penguin, the new series is reportedly set outside of Matt Reeves’ Batman universe, meaning it won’t share continuity with The Batman films or with Colin Farrell’s Oz Cobb. That separation gives the project room to define its own version of Gotham, though how it will connect to DC Studios’ wider slate remains unclear while the series is in such early stages.
LeFranc arrives with a strong track record in the city. The Penguin debuted in 2024 to big ratings and widespread critical praise, with Farrell returning under heavy prosthetics to reprise his role from The Batman and Reeves serving as an executive producer. The show went on to collect nine Emmys in 2025, cementing LeFranc as one of the most trusted names in DC’s television push.
On the page, Poison Ivy is Dr. Pamela Isley, a botanist who gains the power to command plant life and turns that gift into a crusade of eco-terrorism across Gotham. She first appeared in DC Comics in 1966, debuting in Batman #181 from writer Robert Kanigher and artist Sheldon Moldoff, and quickly earned a permanent spot among Batman’s most recognizable foes. Her screen history is long but scattered. Uma Thurman brought the character to live action in Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin in 1997, delivering a campy performance that remains one of the film’s most remembered elements. Ivy has been a regular presence in animation, appearing in Batman: The Animated Series, Batman: The Brave and the Bold and the adult-skewing Harley Quinn, which leaned into her romantic relationship with the title character. She has also turned up in live-action TV through Gotham and Batwoman. Despite all of that, she has never headlined a series of her own, which makes HBO’s project a first for one of DC’s most enduring villains.
Stay tuned for more details.
