Gotham showrunner Bruno Heller has caused a bit of a stir with his comments at the Edinburgh Television Festival, where he seemingly dismissed the likes of Supergirl, Arrow, The Flash and Daredevil by stating that superheroes don’t translate very well to the small screen.
“I don’t think superheroes work very well on TV, probably because of the costume thing.,” said Heller (via THR). “TV is about real people and faces, and not so much about magic and the supernatural things. [Gotham] has to be both a crime procedural and a mythic, epic, grand comic book saga. It’s a tricky combination, because you have to keep it real and unreal at the same time.”
Heller went on to discuss what he perceives to be the audience for Gotham, adding that: “The comic book constituency has become so large and visible with the whole Comic-Con thing that it is very easy to assume that the audience is purely comic book enthusiasts. But I operate the show on the basis that it is a mistake to just go there. What we are trying to do is always give little Easter eggs, little gifts every episode to the real cognoscenti, but you don’t need to know more than the basic Batman myth.”
He also touched upon what we can expect from the third season of the show: “Every season is moving towards the world, in which Batman has to emerge to save the day. So every season is doubling down on the chaos and anarchy that is overtaking Gotham. So, things keep getting worse. [In Season 3] Gordon becomes a bounty hunter, looking for those monsters that escaped. What’s fun to write is the morale and sort of psychological collapse of Gordon.”
What do you make of Heller’s comments? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below…
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Originally published August 27, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
