WIRE Buzz: The Batman TV series finds new boss; Snowpiercer S2 trailer; first look at Snyder's Army of the Dead

HBO Max's upcoming television series inspired by The Batman has found itself a new showrunner following the departure of Terence Winter (Boardwalk Empire, The Wolf of Wall Street) back in November. Per Deadline, British writer Joe Barton (scribe of The Ritual and creator of Giri/Haji) will now oversee the project, which is centered around the Gotham City Police Department during Bruce Wayne's first year as masked crime-fighter.

“This is an amazing opportunity, not only to expand the vision of the world I am creating in the film, but to explore it in the kind of depth and detail that only a long-form format can afford — and getting to work with the incredibly talented Terence Winter, who has written so insightfully and powerfully about worlds of crime and corruption, is an absolute dream," executive producer Matt Reeves (also director and co-writer of The Batman) said last summer.

Of course, Winter ended up leaving over creative differences, but the plan is to still explore those urban themes through the eyes of a dirty cop.

Credit: Warner Bros.

There's no word on when production will begin or when WarnerMedia hopes to start rolling out the show. In addition, it's unclear whether the series will debut before The Batman, which takes place during Wayne's second year as the famed Caped Crusader. As of right now, the blockbuster is slated to swoop into theaters on March 4, 2022.

Robert Pattinson (Tenet) leads the ensemble cast as Wayne.

All aboard! TNT has released a new trailer for Season 2 of Snowpiercer, which brings in the titular locomotive's mysterious creator, Mr. Wilford (played by Game of Thrones alum, Sean Bean). Blessed with all the creature comforts not provided to the lower class citizens at the back of the train, Wilford simply smiles in the face of the apocalypse and an impending civil war. And make no mistake, a rebellion is coming — one led by the fearless Andre Layton (Hamilton's Daveed Diggs). Plus, Melanie Cavill (A Beautiful Mind's Jennifer Connolly) is playing deadly games with the perpetual train, attempting to "slingshot" it up a mountain.

"He's quite charming, but he's not a very nice man, if you have to live with him or be in his presence," Bean said of his character at New York Comic Con in October 2020. "He's a bit of a psychopath. I guess they're quite charming, but they're backstabbers. He's that kind of character, and he's not afraid of kind of displaying his cruelty because he thinks that's clever and it's for the greater good."

If Bean's casting is anything to go on, odds are good that Wilford will die a horrible death at some point.

Watch the trailer below:

"I think what the show's revealed itself to be is a piece about a society that is constantly reinventing itself," Diggs also said at NYCC. "The people have to constantly reassess how they govern themselves based on necessity, based on actual survival, and reinvent that over and over again. And the things it brings to light are: 'What is this idea of democracy? How does that function during crisis? How much stock do you want to put in our leaders? In what way is our underground economy valuable for different kinds of systems?' There's a whole bunch of systems analysis going on, which is not really what you think of so much in your sci-fi, but it's in there, and I find that stuff really fascinating, and I think useful just to get to watch, to watch people grappling with that in a real human way."

Season 2 premieres on TNT Monday, Jan. 25.

There's still no trailer for Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead, but Netflix finally announced on Twitter that the zombie heist flick will debut sometime this summer.

To go along with the news, the company also released a slew of first look images from the movie, which revolves around a group of thieves attempting to rob a Vegas casino in the middle of an undead outbreak. It's still unclear what value money has once the world ends, but hey, maybe the zombie virus (oy, that second word still hurts to write) is contained within the limits of Sin City. Snyder is no stranger to the world of flesh-eating ghouls, having made his feature debut with 2004's Dawn of the Dead remake. Zombies quite literally built the man's career, so it's nice to see Snyder harkening back to his humble roots after so many big budget superhero ventures.

In the images below, you can spot cast members like Dave Bautista (who gave up a role in The Suicide Squad to star in this), Tig Notaro (who replaced Chris D'Elia last Augst), and Matthias Schweighöfer (who already directed an Army of the Dead prequel film).

In addition to the two movies, Netflix is also working on an Army of the Dead anime series, which has cast Christian Slater, Joe Manganiello, and more.