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GOTHAM Creator Talks Potential DC Universe Crossovers And Bringing In The Joker

The first new DC television series of the season, Gotham, finally makes its highly anticipated premiere tonight on Fox. The show offers a new take on the Batman mythology, focusing on a younger James Gordon as he and Harvey Bullock combat the criminal threats in Gotham City. Key characters include Oswald Cobblepot and Carmine Falcone, as well as younger iterations of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle. This series has generated a lot of hype, with TCA voting it the most promising new show of 2014. So tonight, we will learn if the pilot episode lives up to the anticipation.

In the meantime, we have a new interview with Gotham creator and writer Bruno Heller. Speaking with Digital Spy, Heller touches on several topics. One of these is the possibility of Gotham crossing over with any of DC Entertainment’s other shows. Of course, with these shows at other networks – Arrow and The Flash on The CW, Constantine on NBC, etc. – such crossovers are unlikely. Then there’s the Batman prequel being set in the past, before many of these other series’ timelines would potentially begin. However, Heller isn’t entirely opposed to opening up Gotham to a wider DC Universe, as long as they knew how to properly execute it. “We’ll see as we roll on. Precise tone is the important thing in establishing a series, but then you have to see what other shows live in the same universe. Would it be weird if they met up? It’s fun for the audience to see that clash, but actually doing it is scary. I hope we do at some point. That’s the beautiful thing about being inside the DC Universe, but we’ll wait and see what pops and what doesn’t.” 

Heller also weighs in once more on the possibility of The Joker appearing in the series. With Gotham introducing iconic Batman villains such as Riddler, Catwoman, Penguin and Poison Ivy, you would think that it wouldn’t be too long before the Dark Knight’s ultimate adversary shows up. However, Heller had this to say about adapting the Clown Prince of Crime into the world of Gotham. “There are certain villains that can and do precede Batman. There are others that don’t, and we’ll play with that. Generally speaking, we won’t go to the full theatrical, spandex costume aspect of the villains – the fully-fledged villains – because it’s almost not consistent with this world. The Joker didn’t think of his shtick all by himself. There must have been someone before who The Joker saw and thought, ‘Oh, that’s a good shtick. I could work with that and make it better.’ It’s the same with Batman. There must have been other vigilantes before him who didn’t pull off such a good act. We’ll play around with those ideas in Gotham.” The creator then affirms that the priority is to make sure that the series is on the right track in terms of tone and story before bringing in Joker. “We’re going to wait and get the show up and running [before we meet the real Joker]. We want to get the story right and we want to be tonally right – and then we’ll start thinking about how to bring him in. We will certainly try to surprise people, and maybe even trick people. It’s one of those expectations that everyone will be waiting for, so you can’t just present the guy with a big smile and start telling the story. Not that that would be dull, but that’s one of those opportunities to really start playing with this.”


Stay tuned for more news as we have it. To check out Digital Spy’s full interview with Heller – in which he discusses casting Bruce Wayne and the series’ conception – click the link above. Gotham premieres tonight at 8 PM EST on Fox.

Paul Romano

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of WOBAM! Entertainment.