FOX’s ‘Gotham’ TV Series: Donal Logue Talks ‘Blade Runner’ Setting, Comic Inspirations Revealed

Apart from its diverse cast, FOX's forthcoming 'Batman'-prequel TV series 'Gotham' has revealed relatively little of its core premise beyond the Gotham police department, Bruce Wayne and early incarnations of his colorful foes. Now, thanks to series star Donal Logue, we have a bit of insight into the unusual time and place we can expect 'Gotham' to evoke, as well as the Batman comics that will end up influencing it.

First and foremost, it shouldn't surprise anyone that series lead Ben McKenzie has taken to some of the better comics of Batman history as inspiration for his 'Gotham' role of Jim Gordon, sharing to Twitter his amassed collection of the comic that inspired 'Gotham,' 'Gotham Central,' along with Frank Millar's 'Batman: Year One,' 'The Long Halloween,' 'Dark Victory,' and even the more recent 'Batman: Earth One.'

Elsewhere, series star Donal Logue (mistakenly rumored for Gordon, later confirmed for Harvey Bullock) spoke with Nerd Repository to reveal a few surprising technological details about the setting, which owe a bit to retro-influenced styles from 'Batman: The Animated Series,' among others:

What I do love about 'Gotham,' that I can say so far, is that it creates this incredible world that, for me, you can step into things that almost feel like the roaring '20s, and then there’s this other really kind of heavy 'Blade Runner' vibe floating around. It has this anachronistic element to it where it feels like it’s either New York in the '70s, or it kind of exists independently of time and space in a way, and you can dip into all of these different genres.

There were a couple of examples of modern technology, but maybe an antiquated version of it, that gave me a little bit of sense that it’s certainly not the '50s and the '60s. No one’s making a joke about how “there’s no way you can press a telephone button and have a piece of paper show up in another machine.” There is an acceptance of a certain technological reality. But its not high tech and it’s not futuristic, by any means.

FOX’s ‘Gotham’ will explore “the origin stories of Commissioner James Gordon and the villains that made Gotham famous,” with its pilot supposedly featuring Gordon’s investigation of the murders of Thomas and Martha Wayne. The pilot will also be written and executive produced by ‘The Mentalist”s Bruno Heller, along with Warner Bros. Television, and directed by ‘Judge Dredd’ helmer Danny Cannon. It has been confirmed that ‘Gotham’ will not have any direct ties to Ben Affleck‘s take on the Dark Knight for ‘Man of Steel’ follow-up film ‘Batman vs. Superman‘ or The CW’s ‘Arrow‘ series.

Cast in known roles thus far are Ben McKenzie as James Gordon, Donal Logue as Detective Harvey Bullock, Robin Lord Taylor (‘The Walking Dead‘) as a young Oswald Cobblepot, Sean Pertwee (‘Elementary’) as Alfred Pennyworth, ‘Burn Notice‘ star Zabryna Guevara as Gordon’s GCPD boss Captain Essen, and Erin Richards as Gordon’s fiancée Barbara Kean.

We hadn't given much thought to the aesthetic of FOX's 'Gotham,' but what say you? Do Logue's words or the comic influences affect your vision of FOX's forthcoming Batman prequel? What would you want to see emphasized when 'Gotham' begins production?