Before The Dark Knight returns to the screen in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, FOX will explore the origin of the Caped Crusader with Gotham, which sees Ben McKenzie (Southland) leading the cast as Detective Jim Gordon in a pre-Batman Gotham City. Speaking to EW, McKenzie has shared a few thoughts on taking on the role of the future Commissioner…
“I had heard this was coming down the pipe, and Bruno [Heller] sent me the script early and said he wrote this part with me in mind — which is incredibly flattering… [Gordon] is a truly honest man. The last honest man in a city full of crooked people. It’s very tricky nowadays to play a true, honest-to-goodness hero. Everybody is so cynical of people’s intentions. What’s interesting about him is he comes into this city that he hasn’t lived in for two decades, since he was a kid, and has fresh eyes to a world he doesn’t actually know. He thinks he knows it, and his journey will be to figure out how to make it better both for Gotham and himself without completely [losing] the moral standing that he has. He’s not an anti-hero, he’s a true hero — but he will have to compromise.”
Gotham is set to get underway on Monday evenings on FOX in the Fall with a cast that also includes Sean Pertwee (Elementary) as Alfred Pennyworth, Donal Logue (Sons of Anarchy) as Harvey Bullock, newcomer Camren Bicondova as Selina Kyle, David Mazouz (Touch) as Bruce Wayne, Robin Lord Taylor (Another Earth) as Oswald Cobblepot, Cory Michael Smith (Olive Kitteridge) as Edward Nygma, Jada Pinkett Smith (The Matrix) as Fish Mooney, Zabryna Guevara (The Guilt Trip) as Detective Essen, Victoria Cartagena (Salt) as Renee Montoya, Andrew Stewart Jones (The Tomorrow People) as Crispus Allen, Erin Richards (Being Human) as Barbara Kean and Drew Powell (Malcolm in the Middle) as Butch Gilzean.
We’ve also got a selection of cast photos which you can see here as well as the official trailer here.
Originally published June 13, 2014. Updated January 18, 2020.
