Doom Patrol (TV series)

Doom Patrol is an American television series developed by Jeremy Carver. Based on the DC Comics superhero team of the same name, the series features Jane (Diane Guerrero), Rita Farr (April Bowlby), Vic Stone (Joivan Wade), Larry Trainor (Matt Bomer / Matthew Zuk), Cliff Steele (Brendan Fraser / Riley Shanahan), and the Chief (Timothy Dalton) as the members of the eponymous Doom Patrol. Although Bowlby, Bomer, and Fraser reprise their roles from the series Titans, the two shows are set in separate continuities.

The series premiered on February 15, 2019, exclusively on the DC Universe streaming service. The second season aired on both DC Universe and HBO Max, with the two streaming services releasing episodes simultaneously on June 25, 2020. In September 2020, the series was renewed for a third season exclusively on HBO Max.

Premise
Doom Patrol follows the unlikely heroes of the eponymous team who all received their powers through tragic circumstances and are generally shunned by society. Most members of the team were treated by the Chief, a medical doctor who gave them residence in his mansion to help protect them from the outside world. Their name derives from an earlier Doom Patrol team that was formed by the Chief.

The first members of the Doom Patrol to be introduced in the series are Jane, the dominant identity of a traumatized woman with dissociative identity disorder; Rita Farr, who struggles to prevent her body from turning to a gelatinous state; Larry Trainor, who has an entity of negative energy living inside of him; and Cliff Steele, whose brain was placed in a robot body following a car crash. The team is later joined by cybernetically-enhanced superhero Vic Stone.

In the first season, the Chief is captured by the malevolent Mr. Nobody, sending the Doom Patrol on a journey to rescue him. Along the way, they discover secrets about themselves and the Chief, whom they eventually learn is responsible for the tragic events that gave them their powers.

In the second season, after rescuing the Chief's powerful daughter Dorothy, the team tries to find a way to prolong his life so he can continue caring for her; if he dies before her, they would have to protect her.

Main

 * Diane Guerrero as Jane: The dominant identity of Kay Challis, a young woman who developed 64 distinct identities from childhood trauma and received powers for each identity following an experiment she was involuntarily subjected to. Inside Kay's subconsciousness, Guerrero also plays Driver 8 and Karen, while Anna Lore plays Penny Farthing, Stephanie Czajkowski plays Hammerhead, Tara Lee plays Lucy Fugue, Chelsea Alana Rivera plays Silver Tongue, Hannah Alline plays Pretty Polly, Jackie Goldston plays the Secretary, Monica Louwerens plays the Weird Sisters, Helen Abell plays Black Annis, Sarah Borne plays Baby Doll, Samantha Marie Ware plays Miranda, and Shay Mack plays Driller Bill. Skye Roberts portrays Kay as a child (also her own form in her subconsciousness) and Leela Owen portrays the teenage Kay while in her Miranda identity.
 * April Bowlby as Rita Farr: A former Hollywood actress, born Gertrude Cramp, whose cellular structure was altered into a gelatinous state after being exposed to a toxic gas. Her powers allow her to change her body shape, but also cause her to struggle with maintaining a solid form. Lana Jean Turner portrays Rita as a child.
 * Alan Tudyk as Eric Morden / Mr. Nobody (season 1): An omnipresent supervillain capable of traveling through dimensions and altering reality. Aware of being in a television series because of his abilities, he often breaks the fourth wall and manipulates events through his narration. Ed Asner portrays Mr. Nobody in his hospital patient disguise.
 * Matt Bomer and Matthew Zuk as Larry Trainor: A former United States Air Force pilot with a negative energy entity living inside of him. Disfigured from the plane crash that ensued when he made contact with the negative spirit, he is covered in special bandages to prevent the spread of the radioactivity emitting from his body. Bomer voices the character and appears as Larry without the bandages in flashbacks, while Zuk physically portrays him when wrapped in bandages. Braxton Alexander plays Larry as a child.
 * Brendan Fraser and Riley Shanahan as Cliff Steele: A cyborg and former NASCAR driver whose brain was transplanted into a robotic body after a car crash destroyed his own. Fraser voices the character and appears as the human version of Cliff in flashbacks, while Shanahan physically portrays him as a robot. Gibson Todd plays Cliff as a child.
 * Timothy Dalton as Niles Caulder / the Chief: A medical doctor responsible for treating the members of the Doom Patrol and giving them residence in his mansion. Although he helped save their lives, the Chief also orchestrated the events that caused the members to develop their powers as part of an effort to protect his daughter Dorothy. Abigail Shapiro plays the Chief as a child.
 * Joivan Wade as Victor "Vic" Stone / Cyborg: A young, ambitious superhero who received cybernetic enhancements from his father Silas following an accident that led to his mother's death. While not a resident of Doom Manor, he joins the team because of his longtime friendship with the Chief. Braelyn Rankins portrays Vic as a child.

Recurring

 * Julie McNiven as Sheryl Trainor, Larry's wife and the mother of his children
 * Kyle Clements as John Bowers (season 1), Larry's secret lover who also served in the Air Force. Tom Fitzpatrick portrays the character as an old man in the present.
 * Phil Morris as Silas Stone, Victor's father and a scientist who rebuilt him as a cyborg
 * Phil Morris also portrays Doctor Cowboy, the imaginary friend of Cyborg.
 * Mark Sheppard as Willoughby Kipling, an occult detective, chaos magician and member of the Knights Templar
 * Curtis Armstrong as the voice of Ezekiel (season 1), a talking doomsday prophet cockroach
 * Alec Mapa as Steve Larson / Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man (season 1), a tourist who undergoes Von Fuchs' enhancement procedure and is turned into a mismatched fusion of animal, vegetable and mineral
 * Charmin Lee as Elinor Stone (season 1), Victor's mother and Silas's wife
 * Alimi Ballard as Joshua Clay (season 1), the metahuman caretaker of the original Doom Patrol
 * Tommy Snider as Ernest Franklin / Beard Hunter, a bounty hunter with the ability to track down individuals by consuming their facial hair
 * Jon Briddell as Darren Jones (season 1), an agent of the Bureau of Normalcy, an organization which once experimented on Larry after his accident
 * Devan Chandler Long as Flex Mentallo, a superhero and cereal mascot who can alter reality through muscle flexes
 * Abigail Shapiro as Dorothy Spinner (season 2), the daughter of the Chief and a primitive woman who can bring her imaginary friends to life
 * Karen Obilom as Roni Evers (season 2), a military veteran with a mysterious past who Vic meets while attending a PTSD support group
 * Lex Lang as the voice of the Candlemaker (season 2), a dangerous entity who comes into contact with Dorothy
 * Vanessa Carter and Kat Cressida as Darling-Come-Home (season 2), one of Dorothy's imaginary friends. Carter physically portrays Darling-Come-Home and Cressida voices the character.
 * Brian T. Stevenson as the voice of Herschel (season 2), Dorothy's imaginary friend who takes the form of a giant spider

Introduced in season 1

 * Julian Richings as Heinrich Von Fuchs, the Nazi scientist whose experiments changed Morden into Mr. Nobody
 * Katie Gunderson as Kate Steele, Cliff's wife
 * Alan Heckner as Bump Weathers, one of Cliff's pit crew who has an affair with Kate, and later raises Clara after she is orphaned
 * Chantelle Barry as the voice of Baphomet, an oracle in the form of a female horse
 * Lilli Birdsell as Mother Archon, Elliot's mother and the high priestess of the lost city of Nurnheim
 * Ted Sutherland as Elliot Patterson, an 18-year-old boy who is the key to the Cult of the Unwritten Book's attempt to summon the Decreator, an interdimensional entity who will unmake the world
 * Will Kemp and Dave Bielawski as Steve Dayton / Mento, leader of the original Doom Patrol. Kemp plays the younger Mento and Bielawski plays the older Mento.
 * Jasmine Kaur and Madhur Jaffrey as Arani Desai / Celsius, a member of the original Doom Patrol. Kaur portrays the younger Celsius while Jaffrey portrays the older Celsius.
 * Dennis Cockrum as Sydney Bloom, a film producer of Bloom Studios who Rita tries to get cast in one of his upcoming movies
 * Lesa Wilson as Rhea Jones / Lodestone, a member of the original Doom Patrol
 * Alan Mingo Jr. as Morris Wilson / Maura Lee Karupt, a former agent of the Bureau of Normalcy-turned-crossdressing cabaret singer on Danny the Street. Morris Wilson's drag queen-pseudonym, "Maura Lee Karupt", is a pun on the phrase, "Morally Corrupt".
 * Pisay Pao as Slava, an immortal primitive woman with whom Niles falls in love and the mother of Dorothy
 * Bethany Anne Lind as Clara Steele, Cliff's daughter who survived a fatal accident in 1988, and was believed to be the only survivor of her family. Sydney Kowalske plays a younger Clara Steele in flashbacks.
 * David A. MacDonald as Daddy, Jane's sexually abusive father
 * Haley Strode and Susan Williams as Dolores Mentallo, Flex's wife. Strode plays the younger Dolores while Williams plays the older Dolores.
 * Victoria Blade as Millie, Eric Morden's ex-girlfriend

Introduced in season 2

 * Mark Ashworth as the ringmaster, the owner of a freak show that captured Dorothy
 * John Getz as Paul Trainor, Larry's son. Fletcher Hammand portrays a younger Paul.
 * Brandon Perea and Dan Martin as Doctor Tyme, a former scientist who gained the ability to manipulate time through contact with an alien element. Perea physically portrays Doctor Tyme and Martin voices the character.
 * Roger Floyd as Red Jack, an inter-dimensional being who derives his power from the pain of others
 * Michael Tourek as Kiss, the second-in-command of the SeX-Men
 * Michael Shenefelt as Cuddles, a member of the SeX-Men responsible for surveillance
 * Tracey Bonner as Torture, the leader of the SeX-Men
 * Brad Brinkley as Shadowy Mr. Evans, a sex demon
 * Irene Ziegler as Micki Harris, a community theater director and playwright
 * Mariana Klaveno as Valentina Vostok, a member of the Chief's space research team who made contact with a negative energy entity
 * Charity Cervantes as Isabel Feathers, a community theater actress who is cast as a character based on Rita in Micki's play
 * Derek Evans as Zip Callahan, the pilot for the Chief's space research team
 * Jason Burkey as Specs, one of the members in the Chief's space research team
 * Jhemma Ziegler as Scant Queen, the queen of the Scants.
 * Joshua Mikel as Imaginary Jesus, the imaginary friend of Cliff.
 * Donna Jay Fulks as the voice of Roxy, a woman made of disparate facial and body features cut out of magazines who is the imaginary friend of Rita.

Development
Doom Patrol was announced on May 14, 2018, as an intended spin-off of Titans for video on demand service DC Universe after co-creator and executive producer Geoff Johns revealed that Titans ' fourth episode would feature and be titled after the Doom Patrol on February 10, 2018. Despite the initial order and sharing characters and actors, however, Doom Patrol occupies a separate continuity from Titans.

Fifteen episodes were developed for the first season, which premiered on February 15, 2019, and concluded on May 24, 2019. Jeremy Carver wrote the pilot, and served as an executive producer alongside Johns, Greg Berlanti, and Sarah Schechter. Production companies involved with the series include Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television. The series is influenced by writer Grant Morrison's run of the comic.

On July 20, 2019, it was announced at San Diego Comic-Con that Doom Patrol had been renewed for a second season, which premiered on both DC Universe and WarnerMedia's video on demand service HBO Max on June 25, 2020. The season was originally intended to have 10 episodes, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, production was shut down before the 10th episode could be completed and the season instead comprised nine episodes. In September 2020, the series was renewed for a third season exclusively on HBO Max.

Casting
In July 2018, it was announced that April Bowlby, Brendan Fraser, and Matt Bomer would star in Doom Patrol as Rita Farr, the voice of Cliff Steele, and the voice of Larry Trainor, respectively, after being cast as the characters for guest appearances in Titans. Diane Guerrero was also announced to be joining Bowlby, Fraser, and Bomer as Jane. In August 2018, Joivan Wade was cast as Victor "Vic" Stone / Cyborg, Alan Tudyk was cast as Eric Morden / Mr. Nobody, and Riley Shanahan was cast to physically portray the cyborg version of Cliff. The next month, Timothy Dalton was cast as Niles Caulder / Chief and Matthew Zuk was cast in October 2018 to physically portray the bandage-covered Larry. In March 2019, Mark Sheppard was announced as Willoughby Kipling.

In January 2020, Roger Floyd was cast as Red Jack, a malevolent entity, in the series' second season. Other second-season castings that February included Abigail Shapiro as the Chief's superpowered daughter, Dorothy Spinner, and Karen Obilom as Roni Evers, a military veteran with a mysterious past who Vic meets while attending a PTSD support group. Samantha Marie Ware was cast as one of Jane's identities in March 2020, later revealed to be the former primary identity Miranda.

Filming
Principal photography for season one began on August 30, 2018, in Olde Town Conyers, Georgia. Filming continued in Georgia throughout September 2018, in Lawrenceville and at Briarcliff Mansion. Principal photography for season one officially wrapped on April 10, 2019.

Filming for the second season began November 2019 in Georgia.

Release
The first season of Doom Patrol premiered on DC Universe on February 15, 2019, with episodes releasing until May 24, 2019. The first season consists of 15 episodes. A second season premiered on both DC Universe and HBO Max on June 25, 2020.

In the United Kingdom, the first season was released exclusively on StarzPlay on January 2, 2020.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds a 96% approval rating based on 51 reviews, with an average rating of 8.22/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "DC Universe finds breakout material in this iteration of Doom Patrol thanks to a fully committed cast and the writing's faith in weirdness." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the series a score of 70 out of 100 based on reviews from 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Jesse Schedeen of IGN rated the series premiere 9.0 out of 10, stating that "Doom Patrol is the best reason yet to sign up for DC's streaming service. [Doom Patrol] offers a wicked sense of humor with heart, wit and tragedy to spare. The cast works incredibly well to form an entertaining dysfunctional family."

The second season holds a 96% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 25 reviews with an average rating of 8.36/10. Its critical consensus reads, "As entertaining as the first, but with more emotional depth, Doom Patrol's second season explores darker corners without sacrificing any of its wonderful weirdness."

Titans
Rita Farr, Larry Trainor, and Cliff Steele from the Doom Patrol continuity were intended to appear in the original season 1 finale of Titans. The appearances were removed after the original season finale was pulled.

Arrowverse
The Doom Patrol incarnations of Jane, Rita Farr, Vic Stone, Larry Trainor, and Cliff Steele make cameo appearances in the Arrowverse crossover event "Crisis on Infinite Earths", which depicts the series as taking place on the world of Earth-21. Diane Guerrero, April Bowlby, Joivan Wade, Matthew Zuk, and Riley Shanahan appear in their respective roles from Doom Patrol.