DC shows are doing pretty well on television right now. While we won’t be getting the Teen Titans reboot we’ve been hearing about for some time, Gotham is thriving on Fox, as are Arrow and The Flash on the CW (not to mention Legends of Tomorrow, which premieres this week). With all of that DC-oriented success—especially with spinoffs—it’s easy to see why Fox CEO Gary Newman might be contemplating a Gotham spinoff on his own network. At TCA this week, here’s what Newman had to say about the potential for a Gotham spinoff.
We're really happy with the creativity on Gotham this year. We thought the Rise of the Villains has been great, and it feels like a world that has many, many stories to tell. We haven't had any conversations with Warners about whether or not they'd want to do a spinoff series. I think that would be an issue for DC. It isn't quite clear to me that they'd be ready to do that, but it's a good idea.
Gary Newman’s comments at TCA indicate that the Gotham spinoff is not currently active, but that it could be considered during future pilot seasons. Obviously, a Gotham spinoff is not the worst idea anyone has ever brought up at one of these panels, and as IGN is noting, the network also said it “would certainly be open” to the possibility of a spinoff.
While Gotham hasn’t seen the ratings heights in Season 2 that it saw in Season 1, the Fox series has developed a niche audience at this point and has a remained a consistent performer on the network. Because of this, it’s actually not wild to presume the network would be interested in a Gotham spinoff at some point. The question is, who would that spinoff follow? While Gotham has worked to ditch a lot of its procedural-ness to be more about the villains and their antics, because Ben McKenzie’s James Gordon is still the lead on the series, there is a “cops” element to it that could totally be ditched if it was set in a different occupation, time or place in Gotham. Still, I will say this: Just as long as the spinoff isn’t a Fish Mooney-led spinoff, I’m in.
One obstacle that could potentially stand in the way of another series set in Gotham is that Fox already has another comic book-based program in the works. Hellfire was announced by Fox some time ago, but more recently we learned the project was having some problems and even lost all of its four writers. Still, if the 20th Century Fox Television and Marvel Television property moves forward, Fox would already have two comic book series on the channel. The CW is about to have three, obviously, but for a network that caters to a wider demographic like Fox, that may not be feasible.
Although a Gotham spinoff may yet be a long way off, at least Gotham still seems to be a strong series for Fox. New episode won’t hit the schedule until February 29, but from what we’ve learned, they promise to be interesting. You can find out when the rest of your favorites will be returning with our midseason TV premiere schedule.
