While The CW's Arrowverse may be close to its end after a decade on the air, the network remains invested in the world of DC storytelling for at least the foreseeable future. Its next efforts in that venture will come with Gotham Knights, a Batman spin-off centered on Bruce Wayne's adopted son forming some unexpected alliances in order to avenge Bruce's death.
Set to premiere on The CW sometime in 2023, Gotham Knights recently released its first trailer to the public, showing how Oscar Morgan's Turner Hayes starts to bring his team together after learning what happened to his father. However, even with the series being something new and different for The CW, fans and critics didn't think highly of the first trailer with regard to its story or production value.
This show comes after news about an upcoming video game featuring the Gotham Knights will be available later this year, although they don't appear to have any connection to each other whatsoever. Now, after substantial backlash to The CW's first full trailer for its new program, the team behind the video game has come out to clear the air about any confusion about their relationship with one another.
Gotham Knights Game Clarifies Ties to CW Show
The Twitter account for the Gotham Knights video game series sent a message to fans regarding the game's ties to the upcoming Gotham Knights series premiering on The CW next year.
The team made it clear that the show and the video game "are separate projects with no connection to one another," which follows negative reactions to the TV show's recently-released first trailer:
"Message from the Belfry: the Gotham Knights game and the upcoming TV show of the same name are separate projects with no connection to one another. We can't wait for you to experience the action of our Gotham Knights soon."
Executive producer Fleur Marty also commented during a Discord Q&A session from May 26 and noted how the confusion has been an issue for fans of the game as this new show comes into the spotlight. He doubled down on the Twitter account's comments that "there is no connection whatsoever" between the two properties following the show's first trailer being released, answering the question about its canon status:
"No it is not. We know it’s been pretty confusing for our community and for the general public to discover that a CW TV Show called “Gotham Knights” was in the making and planned to release next year (especially since several outlets used the logo and images from the game to talk about the show at the very beginning), but there is no connection whatsoever between our game and the CW show."
Gotham Knights Game Distances Itself from New Show
The Gotham Knights video game is set to bring its own unique take on this little-known DC team, giving fans a look at Jason Todd's Red Hood, Tim Drake's Robin, Dick Grayson's Nightwing, and others. Gamers have gravitated toward this new adventure over the past couple of years, which means that the negative reaction to the new TV show could be dangerous for WB Games Montreal's own public image.
Even with The CW having produced excellent projects in the past like Arrow and The Flash, Gotham Knights simply doesn't appear to be on that same level in terms of quality. With potential product confusion from fans coming into play with the video game and the show running at the same time, the developers behind Gotham Knights appear adamant about potentially necessary damage control with their own product.
There is still hope that Gotham Knights may surprise viewers and take them back to a time when The CW delivered great DC programming, even though the trailer didn't have many people enthusiastic that this would happen. Regardless, public reception to both the upcoming video game and this new live-action series will be something to pay close attention to as their releases draw nearer.
Season 1 of Gotham Knights will premiere on The CW sometime in 2023.
