The Shining (left) and Justice League Dark (right) are getting adaptations on HBO Max. Image : Warner Bros. , DC Comics

Justice League Dark is finally happening, though not in the way we’d expected. J.J. Abrams has set his first three shows at streaming service HBO Max, which include a show set in DC’s Justice League Dark universe and an unusual take on The Shining.




Last year, Abrams and his company Bad Robot Productions signed an exclusivity deal with WarnerMedia to produce shows and films for Warner Bros. and its various platforms, including HBO Max. Now, in a press release, Warner Bros. has announced the first three one-hour shows from the Star Wars director. The first is a currently unnamed series based on Justice League Dark, the comic book series that explores the more supernatural side of the DC universe.


Justice League Dark was previously conceived as a movie for the DCEU as far back as 2012, courting filmmakers like Joseph Kahn and Guillermo del Toro, but it never got off the ground. It’s unclear what characters will be brought into the series–for example, both Swamp Thing and Constantine have already gotten their own shows—but it’s exciting to see another original DC show coming to the platform (we know Green Lantern and Adam Strange are on the way). Side note: I know Matt Ryan is on Legends of Tomorrow but come on, he needs to be Constantine in this show too. After all, they already used him in the animated film!

There’s also a project called Overlook, a 10-episode horror-thriller inspired by The Shining. This quasi-spinoff focuses on the haunted hotel at the center of the film and will feature characters from Stephen King’s terrifying story. It comes on the heels of the recent Shining sequel, Doctor Sleep, which starred Ewan McGregor. And finally, there’s Duster, a show about a getaway driver set in the 1970s.

Obviously none of the shows will be able to get off the ground until the worst of the coronavirus pandemic has passed, but efforts are being made to move things along. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Overlook has already opened a mini writers room to start working on scripts. HBO Max is set to launch sometime this spring, though it’s unclear whether the pandemic will delay that announcement. As we saw with Quibi, it might be a good idea to wait.


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