The Penguin showrunner and executive producer Lauren LeFranc is in talks to join the new Poison Ivy-focused TV series from Warner Bros. and DC Comics as a producer, sources reveal to Deadline.
We have been tracking the project for many months, as plans to move forward were on pause due to the Paramount and Warner Bros. merger. The latest news is that LeFranc would only be producing the new series and not writing the expansion of the DC Comics character’s story. There are currently no writers attached. Additionally, the TV series, which would go to HBO if it gets picked up, would not be part of Matt Reeves’ Batman Universe, which is led by Robert Pattinson playing the caped crusader from Gotham City, sources say.
Poison Ivy, created by Carmine Infantino and Robert Kanigher, was dubbed by DC Comics as Batman’s Floral Femme Fatale. Poison Ivy is the alias used by Dr. Pamela Isley. As her alter ego, Isley controls anyone she wants by using her pheromones. She also has an army at her disposal, as she is able to control the flora around her.
No one has been cast as the lead as of yet, and Poison Ivy isn’t a character that has been very actively a part of recent new DC Studios projects other than HBO Max’s adult animated series Harley Quinn, which featured Lake Bell as the voice of Poison Ivy. Bridget Regan played the character in the CW’s live-action Arrowverse series Batwoman, and Peyton List before her in Fox’s Gotham. Additional notable names who have brought the character to life include Uma Thurman, Clare Foley, and Maggie Geha.
In addition to her work on The Penguin, LeFranc has produced and written multiple episodes of TV shows, including the YouTube Premium Series Impulse, ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., NBC’s Chuck, and the Christian Slater-led My Own Worst Enemy, also for NBC.