CBR sat down with Bruno Heller and Danny Cannon, executive producers of Fox's Gotham, who are set to shake-up the days of Gotham before the Caped Crusader. "Telling origin stories, essentially, always seems to me the most fun and the best part of the myth," explains Heller, "not just comic superhero myths, but Hercules, Achilles, Rudyard Kipling. How things got to be the way they are has always been my favorite part of these stories, so this was just a natural start with the founding myth, but finding a different angle on it. And then, basically, Danny took it from there, because he had a fully realized vision of this world... [he] made it a three-dimensional world that nobody else has done with this story."
Heller also said that they have a dual responsibility to respect the fans but also allow those who are less familiar with the source. "For me, you have to be able to watch the show, even if you don't know who Batman is. This is a story about the people. And so as long as we can do that, as long as we're honoring the story we're telling you at the moment, then to a degree, everything else takes care of itself. Everything else is a huge bonus. It's like working with movie stars - as any director or writer will tell you, as soon as you're working with people that other people feel they know and understand, you're already bigger than life. Your story immediately, if you're telling it right, has that same kind of mythic, iconic feel to it, and that's the beauty of this world." Gotham premieres this fall.
A new recruit in Captain Sarah Essen's Gotham City Police Department, Detective James Gordon is paired with Harvey Bullock to solve one of Gotham's most high-profile cases ever: the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne. During his investigation, Gordon meets the Waynes' son, Bruce, now in the care of his butler Alfred, which further compels Gordon to catch the killer. Along the way, Gordon must confront gang boss Fish Mooney, as well as many of Gotham's future villains, such as Selina Kyle and Oswald Cobblepot. Eventually, Gordon is forced to form an unlikely friendship with Bruce, one that will help shape the boy's future in becoming the Dark Knight.