When Fox announced its Gotham series a few years ago, a lot of fans were hoping it would be pretty close to Ed Brubaker’s hit comic, Gotham Central. That didn’t really turn out to be the case, and some were expecting that this new series spinning off from Matt Reeves’ The Batman would do that, instead. Well…that’s not going to happen, either.
Gotham Central co-writer Ed Brubaker appeared on Kevin Smith’s Fatman Beyond podcast and revealed what he knew of the upcoming HBO Max series, a prequel set in the first year of the Batman played by Robert Pattinson in Reeves’ film….
“I was like ‘maybe they’re really going to make ‘Gotham Central’ this time,’ and so I reached out to a producer who works for Matt Reeves and he says, ‘no, that’s not really ‘Gotham Central,’’” Brubaker said. “They’re making sure that they don’t call it ‘Gotham Central’ and it’s more of a spinoff from the movie. It’s like the James Gordon show.”
It’s probably impossible to not be influenced by Gotham Central when making a Batman series based on the city’s notoriously corruptible cops. Jim Gordon is always the beacon of light within the force, and and that part will probably remain intact. Jeffrey Wright has been cast as Gordon in The Batman, and will presumably return for the series.