Lets face it. With the recent delay of Batman Vs. Superman, the casting of Jesse Eisenberg as key super villain Lex Luthor, and the reveal of the long anticipated new Batsuit seeming more and more distant, DC fans are growing less and less tolerant as the days by. But thankfully, fans of the famed comic book company and it's respective characters have a few TV shows to hold them up until the iconic team-up hits theaters in 2016, and one of the shows is none other than NBC's Gotham. Now we have the first few major casting announcement for the series, including who will be playing the young Commissioner Gordon himself.
Ben McKenzie, who's previously starred in TV shows such as Southland and The O.C., will be taking on the role of Detective Jim Gordon, prior to his days as Gotham's Commissioner. The character was most recently played by Gary Oldman (Robocop), where he played a key part in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. Clearly McKenzie has big shoes to fill, but with the actors past work as a police officer on Southland, and his coincidental past involvement with the Batman mythos (He voiced Batman in the animated film Year One), it seems he's more than suitable for the job. Gordon will essentially be the primary protagonist of the show, as it'll explore his days working for the Gotham PD in that city's time before the appearance of Batman.
Not much is know about the overall plot that the show will be dealing with, but we already know that many familiar faces from Batman's rogues gallery will be making appearances down the line, with Robin Lord Taylor (The Walking Dead) already signed on to play a young Oswald Cobblepott aka The Penguin. Other key character who have been cast include Erin Richards (Being Human) as Gordon's wife Barbara Kean, Zabryna Guevara (Person of Interest) as his boss Captain Essen, and Sean Pertwee (Elementary) as famed butler of the Wayne family Alfred Pennyworth. Most recently, it was announced Donal Louge (Sons of Anarchy) would be portraying Detective Harvey Bullock, who's Gordon's tough partner in crime.
Although I wasn't necessarily to keen on the idea of a show primarily focusing on Gotham before Batman, with these casting announcements it's hard to be excited for this show. Gotham seems like the most promising of the shows DC has in the pipeline currently, which include CW's upcoming Flash spin-off and NBC's Constantine series. It doesn't seem this show will be tying in with the current DC movie universe, which might work in the shows favor so it won't have to be constricted about the characters the show runners chose to include. With Bruno Heller (Rome, The Mentalist) executive producing, and Danny Cannon (CSI) set to direct the pilot, it seems Gotham is in good hands.
It's been rumored that show's pilot will focus on the unfolding case of the murder of Wayne Enterprises CEO Thomas Wayne, and his wife Martha, best known as the parents of Bruce Wayne himself. It's on known whether those two characters will in fact be appearing or will merely be mentioned, but what we do know for a fact is that a twelve year old Bruce Wayne will be a reoccurring character in the series. There's even been speculation that the final episode of Gotham may show us Wayne donning the cape and cowl for the first time. Wayne's inclusion makes sense given the recent casting of Alfred, and while the show will focus on Gordon, it may shift every now an then to give audiences a view of the childhood of Bruce following his parents death. The role is probably going to be one of the most key casting decisions the show runners will have to make, so lets hope their able to find a young talent willing to accept the challenge.
So what do you think of McKenzie playing a young Gordon? Are you happy with show's other cast additions? Let us know below!
