Gotham is an American superhero crime drama television series created by Bruno Heller and based on characters appearing in and published by DC Comics, which tells the origin story behind Commissioner James Gordon's rise to prominence in Gotham City in the years before Batman's arrival, as well as those of several Batman villains including Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman, Joker, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Hugo Strange, Harvey Dent and Mr. Freeze.
The good. The evil. The beginning. Before there was Batman, there was Gotham.
Everyone knows the name Commissioner Gordon. He is one of the crime world's greatest foes, a man whose reputation is synonymous with law and order. But what is known of Gordon's story and his rise from rookie detective to Police Commissioner?
What did it take to navigate the multiple layers of corruption that secretly ruled Gotham City, the spawning ground of the world's most iconic villains? And what circumstances created them – the larger-than-life personas who would become Catwoman, The Penguin, The Riddler, Two-Face and The Joker?
Gotham is an origin story of the great DC Comics Super-Villains and vigilantes, revealing an entirely new chapter that has never been told. From executive producer/writer Bruno Heller (The Mentalist, Rome), Gotham follows one cop's rise through a dangerously corrupt city teetering between good and evil, and chronicles the birth of one of the most popular super heroes of our time.
Growing up in Gotham City's surrounding suburbs, James Gordon (Ben McKenzie, Southland, The O.C.) romanticized the city as a glamorous and exciting metropolis where his late father once served as a successful district attorney. Now, two weeks into his new job as a Gotham City detective and engaged to his beloved fiancée, Barbara Kean (Erin Richards, Open Grave, Breaking In), Gordon is living his dream – even as he hopes to restore the city back to the pure version he remembers it was as a kid.
Brave, honest and ready to prove himself, the newly-minted detective is partnered with the brash, but shrewd police legend Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue, Sons of Anarchy, Terriers, Vikings, Copper), as the two stumble upon the city's highest-profile case ever: the murder of local billionaires Thomas and Martha Wayne.
At the scene of the crime, Gordon meets the sole survivor: the Waynes' hauntingly intense 12-year-old son, Bruce (David Mazouz, Touch), toward whom the young detective feels an inexplicable kinship. Moved by the boy's profound loss, Gordon vows to catch the killer.
As he navigates the often-underhanded politics of Gotham's criminal justice system, Gordon will confront imposing gang boss Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith, The Matrix franchise, HawthoRNe), mob kingpin Carmine Falcone (John Doman, The Wire) and many of the characters who will become some of fiction's most renowned, enduring villains, including a teenaged Selina Kyle/the future Catwoman (acting newcomer Camren Bicondova), Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor, The Walking Dead) and Edward Nygma/the future Riddler (newcomer Cory Michael Smith).
The crime drama follows Gordon's turbulent and singular rise through the Gotham City police department, led by Police Captain Sarah Essen (Zabryna Guevara, Burn Notice), as he goes head-to-head with major crimes unit detectives Renee Montoya (Victoria Cartagena, The Bedford Diaries) and Crispus Allen (Andrew Stewart Jones, Sex & the City).
It also focuses on the unlikely friendship Gordon forms with the young heir to the Wayne fortune, who is being raised by his unflappable butler, Alfred Pennyworth (Sean Pertwee, Camelot, Elementary).
It is a friendship that will last them all of their lives, playing a crucial role in helping the young boy eventually become the crusader he's destined to be.
Gotham is based upon characters published by DC Entertainment and is produced by Warner Bros. Television. Executive producer Bruno Heller (The Mentalist) wrote the pilot, which was directed and executive-produced by Emmy Award nominee Danny Cannon (the CSI franchise, Nikita).
John Stephens serves as an executive producer on the series.