'Lobo' TV Show Coming To Syfy, Will Be A Spin-Off Of 'Krypton'

DC has been trying to make a Lobo movie for years, but the foul-mouthed intergalactic bounty hunter is coming to the small screen first in Krypton season 2. Now a new report says the character will be hanging out in the TV realm for a while longer, because Syfy is developing a Lobo TV show that will function as a spin-off of Krypton. But what about that movie?

Variety brings the news about the Lobo TV show that's in the works at Syfy, the home of the Superman prequel series Krypton. Season two of that show debuts this Wednesday night, and the dirty, motorcycle-riding, hulking Lobo will make an appearance in the second season as played by actor Emmett J. Scanlan. Krypton executive producer Cameron Welsh will serve as the writer and showrunner for the new Lobo series.

Lobo was introduced in DC Comics in the early 1980s as a villain, and though he was meant as a parody of the type of over-the-top, sex-crazed, violence-prone comic antiheroes of that era, readers couldn't get enough of his antics. He's the type of character who, in the wrong hands, could end up being a complete disaster when adapted into live action; in self-aware hands, he could be a lot of fun to watch. I imagine his inclusion in Krypton will provide that show with a shot in the arm from audiences who may otherwise have never tuned in, and it says something about the network's belief in the character that they've already given this character a spin-off without even seeing audience reaction to him yet.

Guy Ritchie was in talks to direct a Lobo movie ten years ago, but that never came to pass. A few years after that, Dwayne Johnson confirmed that he was in discussions to play the role in a movie directed by his frequent collaborator Brad Peyton; just a year later, that project had fallen apart. When we last checked, Wonder Woman screenwriter Jason Fuchs was working on a draft of the script that would potentially be directed by – wait for it – Michael Bay. No word yet if that movie version is still in the works, but DC has been hesitant to put many of its characters in the movies and on TV shows at the same time (The Flash is a notable exception), so I wouldn't be surprised if they pumped the brakes on a big screen version of the character and treated this TV spin-off as a test-balloon for how to handle this brazen, chain-smoking character in live-action.