Ben McKenzie launches a scenario to focus on a new direction – Deadline

Time is running out for Jim Gordon and Gotham And no one is more aware of this fact than Ben McKenzie, the actor who has described Flint Gordon for five seasons in the Fox series that bears the same name as Batman's hometown. "It's a lot to take," said McKenzie about the Gotham finale of the series that is broadcast tonight. "It's really one of those bittersweet moments. But the show has never been an open proposition. "

Tonight's finale is titled "The Beginning …" but the name is not as ironic as it sounds. That's because the drama was built to be a kind of "pre-judicial procedure" that leads to the well-known Batman mythology that DC Comics has been publishing since 1939. The narrative window would begin in Bruce Wayne's youth with the murder of his parents. with his first forays as a costumed crime fighter: Gotham would end when Batman started. This moment of graduation comes tonight with the 100th episode of the series and the first to feature an appearance of the Caped Crusader in action.

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Gotham The fans are more than ready to see Dark Knight in all its glory, but the creative team of the series did not share this eagerness. On the contrary. Executive Producer Bruno Heller, the UK's best known producer for The mentalist and Rome, said that he would never have developed the series if it was a traditional costume hero franchise. "I do not think Batman works great on TV," Heller said in 2014. "To have people behind masks? Frankly, all those superhero stories I've seen, I love them always – until they take the costume. "

This made Gotham an eccentric entry into the superhero sector, but not quite unprecedented. Smallville (217 episodes, 2001-2010) still reigns. The oldest television series of all time based on the heroes and creators of DC Comics, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, shared a similar dislike for costumed feats. Their first mission statement was "no flights, no tights" and the series held up its final episode to put Clark Kent (Tom Welling) in Superman's iconic costume.

For Heller and his team, the key to making a convincing Gotham without Batman was to bring to light the trusted friend of the hero, James Gordon, a dedicated lawyer destined to become the police commissioner of a city characterized by his lawless criminals and celebrities. Gordon was introduced in the first panel of the first page of the first Batman comic ever published, Detective cartoon No. 27, the historical question that reached its 80th birthday last month. Gotham added a key element to his version of Gordon: when Thomas and Martha Wayne are murdered, Gordon is the inspector in charge of the investigation.

Gordon is the good cop who keeps his manners in a bad city that loses his marbles. The show found the postman in McKenzie, who had been a memorable representation of Los Angeles police officer Ben Sherman in the highly esteemed (but misjudged) category. Southland which was broadcast from 2009 to 2013 on NBC and TNT. Before that, the Texan portrayed Ryan Atwood, a scruffy underdog adopted by a wealthy Newport Beach couple and the central character of OCFox Teen's sparkling drama aired on 92 episodes from 2003 to 2007.

"I had some things in common with the character," McKenzie shrugged. That's right, this 23-year-old player traveled west from Austin (instead of Chino) to Southern California and bought a catchy Cadlliac DeVille that had already gone through 17 challenging years and 228,000 km. "It's a lot of kilometers."

McKenzie has come a long way in his personal life by channeling Gordon's role. In 2017, for example, McKenzie married his Gotham co-starring, Morena Baccarin, who portrayed Dr. Leslie Thompkins on the series (and is well known for her role in the dead Pool movies as love interest of the mutant anti-hero). The couple now has their first child.

For McKenzie, the end of Gotham closes a pivotal chapter of his life on the screen. But he also hopes that the last seasons will one day be the prelude to another career, that of writing and directing. The actor has made the sixth episode of Season 5 and has also achieved one in each of the previous two seasons. McKenzie also wrote the script for two Gotham episodes: "One of my three soups" in season 4 and "The trial of Jim Gordon" in this last season.

McKenzie, the writer, was not easy with his character on the fictional screen. The officer took a bullet in his chest and hovered near death for a good part of the episode. He got stuck somewhere between "here" and "the afterlife" in an existential audience room where he had to defend his life.

"In fact, I have no sympathy for him," said McKenzie with a chuckle. "The least I would say sympathy. The more you inflict pain to the protagonist, hopefully, the bigger the stake and the more the emotion aroused. So I had to be a little masochist. To sift him and live this existential crisis, this dream, where he is on the trail of his crimes and faces the loss of everything: the love of his life and his child at the same time. I think we got there. That's about all you can get. I think that finally we are satisfied with the type of emotional impact we were looking for. "

This seems to apply to the season as a whole. The last episode is also an epic epic, with a story that goes on for a decade (long enough to allow Gordon to wear a new mustache) and finds the penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) returning from prison and Bruce Wayne returning home him. the house after years of self-imposed exile. It also coincides with the rise of the offbeat version of the Joker (Cameron Monaghan). "It's normal for him to come into conflict with Gordon and Wayne at the end," McKenzie said. "Cameron was amazing and there was room for another big hit with the role."

Most reviews have gone from good to excellent, encouraging news for actors and the film crew from an uneven or exaggerated series at times. "Everyone was very excited and positive," said McKenzie. "The last season is over as planned by the public."

Gotham City is arguably the most famous city created in American popular culture since the emerald city of the Wizard of Oz (Although Metropolis, Springfield, Mayberry, Twin Peaks and Riverdale are other highlights on the real estate map). Even without Batman, the greedy city, paved in corruption and mapped by trauma, does not seem to have a limit on its history.

"It's amazing when you think about it," said McKenzie. "The city itself is a character. There are many stories to find in Gotham City. Gotham also has a lot to tell. "

That's right, Gotham City will be the site of Batwoman, the pilot of The CW this fall, and for a series of upcoming feature films, including Joker, The Batman, and the Birds of prey project.

Also this year: a Harley Quinn animated series and Pennyworth (a series about the loyal Batman hotel master) on Epix. Pennyworth and Gotham are not linked in the continuity of their story, but they are both from the tandem of executive producer / writer Bruno Heller (The mentalist) and executive producer / director Danny Cannon (CSI exemptions).

A passing reference in the 2016 movie Suicide team identified Gotham City as a major metropolitan hub in Garden State. The location of the city has been vague for decades, but it is now officially part of the New Jersey map and Springsteen is not the only local hero named Bruce.

Sure Gotham, the city is more like Al Capone's Chicago than Dracula's Transylvania. "There is a specific look and style that Gotham who distinguishes the show separately? The visual identity is distinctive and it was really interesting to work as a director. "

Did McKenzie inherit something that Gordon would have brought with him? "Maybe." We also have things in common, he lives in the same city as me, New York, but in a slightly more dramatic version, he had to understand things on the fly and his life changed and he met love. of his life and had a child, there are a lot of similarities there, but I did not buy a gun and I did not shoot and I'm more of a guy in jeans and t-shirts Although Gordon gave me the appreciation of a good suit, that's for sure. "

McKenzie stated that he had learned a lot from the creative team with whom he had worked and that he believed that his acting had helped to improve his staging and vice versa. Several new projects look promising for McKenzie, both as a screen presence and as a screenwriter or director. Always, say goodbye to Gotham was a sentimental exercise for the man who plays the taciturn detective.

"It's hard, I've been there a couple of times before, I've done two shows before, so it was less intimidating than before, I've had a lot of connections with these people." Together we spend more time together than our families with our families, nine months a year, it is a joy and an experience I will never forget, I can not forget, I wake up every morning with my woman and my child that happened during this period so yes, it's a limitless city for me.