Jimmy Tatro just landed one of the weirdest, most inspired casting gigs in the DCU right now — and it works before he even opens his mouth.

Deadline confirmed Tatro will officially play Gorilla Grodd in the upcoming Superman spinoff series centered on Jimmy Olsen, with sources telling the trade the deal is done even though HBO hasn’t formally greenlit the show yet. The series is being billed as a true-crime docuseries with Jimmy Olsen — played by Skyler Gisondo, reprising his role from James Gunn’s Superman — hosting, and Season 1 is reportedly built entirely around Grodd, the hyper-intelligent telepathic ape who’s spent decades tormenting the Flash in the comics.

The Voice Sells It

Here’s the thing nobody’s talking about enough: listen to Tatro talk in literally anything — American Vandal, his YouTube stuff, any red carpet clip — and this casting stops sounding like a stunt and starts sounding like the only correct choice.

If you hear Tatro talk, the casting makes sense. He has a very distinct, low voice.

Grodd isn’t just a big scary gorilla in the comics — he’s a manipulator, a guy who talks his way into your head before he ever throws a punch. That requires a voice with weight to it, something that can sit in a “true-crime” interview chair and feel unsettling without moving a muscle. Tatro’s got that low, distinct register built in. You don’t need a performance-capture rig to sell menace if the voice is already doing the work.

Why This Format Actually Fits Him

This isn’t Tatro’s first rodeo with fake documentary energy either — he built his career on it. He starred as Dylan Maxwell in American Vandal, and the two guys writing and showrunning this Jimmy Olsen series, Dan Perrault and Tony Yacenda, are the same creators behind that show. That’s not a coincidence, that’s a reunion. Casting the guy who anchored your original mockumentary as the villain of your superhero mockumentary is the kind of connective tissue that tells you the tone is locked in, even if the greenlight isn’t.

DC’s building out its post-Superman universe piece by piece, and the Grodd pick is the first real signal of what this show’s register actually is. A low, distinct voice on a telepathic ape hosting his own true-crime episode — that’s a specific bet, and it’s one that plays exactly to what Tatro already does best.

The series still doesn’t have an official greenlight or a release date. But the gorilla’s locked in — and if you know what Tatro sounds like, you already know why.