Last month, it was rumoured that Blade and Sons of Anarchy star Donal Logue was set to take on the role of Commissioner Gordon in Fox’s upcoming DC series Gotham, and while the role of Detective Gordon subsequently went to Ben McKenzie (The O.C., Batman: Year One), the original report wasn’t entirely wide of the mark, with Logue announced as having secured the role of Gotham P.D. Detective Harvey Bullock. Speaking to Nerd Repository, Logue has discussed his casting in the Batman prequel series, as well as giving us some insight into the tone of the show.
“What I do love about Gotham, that I can say so far, is that it creates this incredible world that, for me, you can step into things that almost feel like the roaring 20s, and then there’s this other really kind of heavy Blade Runner vibe floating around”, Logue responded when asked about the tone of Gotham. “It has this anachronistic element to it where it feels like it’s either New York in the 70s, or it kind of exists independently of time and space in a way, and you can dip into all of these different genres. So I’m excited by it. There are elements of it that are completely contemporary and there are pieces of it that are very old-fashioned. I’m excited to see which way they go with the production design and wardrobe and all that kind of stuff. My main concern to start with, I was just going over this relationship between him and Gordon, just to find out how that dynamic plays out. Just to do my homework, basically.”
“One guy’s been around Chinatown for a long time, and knows how it has to work,” he continues. “Someone who’s come in from a more idealistic world – not to say non-violent, he’s coming back from the war – steps into it, and absolutely there’s a huge moral quandary… There’s kind of an ambiguous line between good and bad. We have to let certain bad guys do certain things, in order for the greater good, for this machine to keep working. And then someone comes in who’s like ‘no, I have a much more black and white view, I’m not into this notion of moral relativism’. There’s right and there’s wrong. And what is law? Is law this platonic form of truth that floats in space that is fixed, or is it something that’s this arbitrary thing where it’s like ‘the law is me and you, right now, in this car. Whatever we determine, that’s the law.’ And that’s the kind of thing that will be a conflict in this show.”
Gotham has been created by Bruno Heller (The Mentalist) and will also feature Sean Pertwee (Dog Soldiers) as Alfred Pennyworth, Robin Lord Taylor (Another Earth) as Oswald Cobblepot, Zabryna Guevara (The Guilt Trip) as Detective Essen and Erin Richards (Being Human) as Barbara Kean.
Originally published February 19, 2014. Updated November 28, 2022.
