Ben McKenzie to Star as Detective James Gordon in Fox's GOTHAM

According to Entertainment Weekly, Ben McKenzie (Southland) will star as Detective James Gordon, i.e. Commissioner Gordon, in Fox's Batman prequel pilot GOTHAM.

Read the original report here.

As BWW previously reported, the network's chairman, Kevin Reilly, recently confirmed that iconic characters such as Catwoman, Joker, the Penguin -- and even a young Bruce Wayne -- will be featured in the series.

"['Gotham'] has all of the classic Batman characters," Reilly said, according to Zap2It, "with a young Bruce Wayne, with a Detective Gordon, before he became Commissioner Gordon, with the Riddler, the Penguin, the Joker ... Catwoman."

The series will largely trace the origin stories of the characters. "It's this operatic soap that has a slightly larger-than-life quality," Reilly said.

In GOTHAM, created by THE MENTALIST's Bruno Heller, "Gordon is still a detective with the Gotham City Police Department and has yet to meet Batman, who will not be part of the series. Created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, Commissioner Gordon has appeared in comic books as well as Batman films and series, including in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, where he was played by Gary Oldman."

Reilly confirmed that he fully expects the project, with a pilot set to be directed by Danny Cannon, to go to series, with the writers getting to work in mid-February.

McKenzie's upcoming big screen projects include The Swimmer and How to Make Love Like an Englishman. Aside from Southland, he has also appeared on TV in The O.C.

Photo Credit: Ryan Miller/Capture Imaging