There have been a number of Batman TV shows over the years, both animated and live action. But Fox Gotham maybe one of the series out there: a prequel focusing on Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) investigating Waynes murder while Bruce himself (David Mazouz) is just a kid? And is his Rogues Gallery future in his mid-teens or adults?
Despite that strange situation, things paid off. Gotham had a solid five-year run that included 100 episodes, the series that preceded it Pennyworth: The origin of Batman’s Butlerand a passionate fan base that is still passionate about it. Ahead of the show’s 10th anniversary on September 22, IGN published a lengthy retrospective on the series featuring interviews with the main cast, creator Bruno Heller, and executive producer (and director/recurring writer) Danny Cannon. As Heller explains, the show came about after Warner Bros. and CBS have passed on his legal drama Lawyers (also starring McKenzie), and was wondering what to do next. He settled on the Batman series because the character was ready for TV, but said his son Felix (an avid comic reader) helped him realize that the show should focus on Gordon instead of Batman himself.
“From then on, the young detective investigating Wayne’s murder was a natural instinct,” Heller said. “As soon as that idea came out, that he was a police officer investigating the death of Waynes… The whole series is there. Batman as a boy, origin stories of all those characters like the Joker and the Riddler and the Penguin, but as young people.”
Cannon said Heller had two strong ideas in the first season: Gordon trying to keep his promise to Bruce to investigate Wayne’s murder, and Penguin’s (Robin Lord Taylor) story taking over. “You had the journey of one child losing his parents, and you have this child who had nothing,” he told IGN. “One would improve his life with his manager and Jim Gordon, and look at the death of his parents and have questions. […] And this is another one, the only way he could be a man and be the person he wanted to be was to step on the skull of the dead, and do it himself in a dirty way.”
Doing anything Batman-related comes with a lot of baggage, and there was an understandable secrecy about the show’s inception. Most of the cast admitted that they didn’t realize they were auditioning for a Batman show to begin with. When McKenzie was told by Heller that Gordon was written with him in mind, Sean Pertwee (Alfred) learned from a conversation with Heller and Cannon just before the audition; and fully click Camren Bicondova (Selina Kyle) when she was told she got the part. “I think they said, ‘She’s Catwoman,’ but the first thing they said was ‘meow.’ And I was like, ‘What? I don’t understand,’” he recalled.
Like McKenzie, Mazouz knew he was spying on Bruce, even though he admitted he doesn’t remember how he learned that information. Heller says he was at the top of their list “early on,” and Cannon considered it fortunate that Mazouz was at the top of Fox’s two-season series. touch, his creators recommended him to Cannon and Heller. Mazouz discovered the part in early 2014, and remembered it being his Bar Mitzvah and seeing his friends and Batman in their costumes. In that moment, he said, it was the first time it dawned on him that he was going to be Batman, regardless of whether you will wear it or not.
Looking back Gotham, Its cast and crew have fond memories of working in this series. Pertwee said he does everything he can to connect with his old customers, and many consider it a show that can’t be done these days. Taylor noted the 22-episode, big-budget show “doesn’t feel like something that’s coming back anytime soon” on network TV, to say nothing of the freedom it had to play with the Batman mythos every week. “We showed that we were able to play with the canon and play with these old stories in a way that was brave in many ways and that many fans did not expect. Finally, [it’ll] they seem to be a refreshing new story in these stories that have been around for 80 years.”
Bicondova said the show “brought an edge to comic book stories” that you couldn’t find in other shows then, or now. Pertwee echoed that sentiment and believes people will find the show’s elements “just right” and “humanized” Batman’s corner of the DC universe. Speaking to those characters, he added the show’s backstory to Batman and his villains will recur with another appearance in the media.
McKenzie has respected other DC shows over the years, but he believed Gotham “It was very different from many others that existed then and now. Outside Gotham, “I don’t know if they’re going to do a show about Penguin,” said McKenzie. “[It’s] a testament to both Robin’s portrayal, but also to show that you can make what is essentially, at least, a PG-13, if not an R-rated show on network television by not letting the audience down, by keeping the plot lines complex, three characters at a time. I’d like to think we pushed the ball forward there.”
“The legacy of the show is, did people enjoy doing it, and leave feeling like they were treated well and had a good time, and that they made friends and felt proud?” Heller said. “[Gotham] it’s a small part of the larger Batman mythos.” Likening Batman to a pop music saint, he said he “hopes we’ve done justice.” [and] he took that respect seriously, and he took it in enough light to make it work as a TV show.”
You can learn to chat all the time Gotham here, including the show’s production design, featuring Batman’s superhero side, and more. While you’re here, look back Gotham and everything Gotham-ness in the comments below.
Looking for more io9 news? Check out when you can expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe in film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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