DC Studios is testing an unconventional formula for expanding its slate. After Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) first appeared in Superman, news emerged that the fan-favorite pal of Clark Kent would spearhead his own show. As months went by, we learned that the untitled project known informally as DC Crime is framed as a true-crime mockumentary with the Daily Planet photographer hosting an investigation into DC’s most notorious villains. Season one already locked in Gorilla Grodd (Jimmy Tatro), the telepathic ape whose rivalry with the Flash spans decades of comics and television. Of course, Supergirl‘s disappointing theatrical run this summer sparked speculation that Warner Bros. might narrow the DC Universe slate to focus exclusively on marquee heroes. Yet DC Crime seems to be moving forward, as it just added another name to its roster.
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Deadline reported that Mary Holland has joined DC Crime as the series’ female lead, Sandra. Holland brings a strong comedic résumé to the project, built on her recurring role on the CBS sitcom Ghosts and her part in the Little House on the Prairie reboot. DC Comics does not have an obvious Sandra tied to the Grodd or Jimmy Olsen mythology. The most recognizable Sandra in the publisher’s history remains Lady Shiva, whose civilian identity is Sandra Wu-San, though the character’s Chinese heritage makes that connection unlikely for Holland’s casting. The role more plausibly exists as an original character that will assist Olsen’s investigation.
Will DC Crime Follow the Structure of American Vandal?
Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault, the writers, executive producers, and showrunners behind DC Crime, built their careers on American Vandal, the Netflix mockumentary that ran for two seasons starting in 2017. The series parodied the true-crime documentary boom sparked by Making a Murderer and Serial, following two teenage filmmakers investigating who spray-painted phallic images across 27 faculty cars at a fictional high school. Rather than playing the premise for a single joke, Yacenda and Perrault treated the case with the same procedural rigor as an actual crime documentary, building tension through interviews, timeline reconstructions, and forensic-style analysis. That commitment to approach an inherently absurd case with sincerity earned the show a Peabody Award and an Emmy nomination.
The casting of Jimmy Tatro as Gorilla Grodd reinforces the likelihood that DC Crime will lean on that exact playbook. Tatro starred as Dylan Maxwell, the wrongly expelled prankster at the center of American Vandal‘s first season, making him one of Yacenda and Perrault’s past collaborators. Reuniting him with his original creative team, this time as a hyper-intelligent ape accused of terrorizing Metropolis, signals that DC Crime intends to apply the same straight-faced investigative treatment to a comic book villain that American Vandal applied to a high school prank.
While not everyone is happy about Gorilla Grodd appearing in a comedy series, the genre has already proven itself as a legitimate vehicle for prestige storytelling within James Gunn’s DC Universe. Peacemaker, Gunn’s own HBO Max series, mixes crude humor with genuine emotional stakes and earned some of the strongest reviews of any DC production in years. In addition, Jimmy Olsen himself was a comic relief in Superman, despite also proving essential to the main plot. If Yacenda and Perrault apply the American Vandal formula to Grodd’s alleged crimes, the series could give one of DC’s best villains the kind of character study he deserves, even inside a comedy.
DC Crime remains in early development at HBO Max and has not yet received an official series order.
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