Gotham Hires Judge Dredd Director To Helm Pilot

It's been a long time since we last heard anything about the upcoming television series Gotham. It was all the way back in September when it was announced that Fox would be airing the series about Batman's hometown, but things have remained quiet since. That changes today, as the pilot has picked up a brand new executive producer and director. According to Deadline, Danny Cannon has been tapped by the network to give us our first look at the new small screen version of the famous DC Comics city.

Cannon has speant years jumping around from series to series on television as both an EP and episode director. His most recent work has been on the CW show The Tomorrow People, but other titles on his small screen resume include all three versions of CSI, Shameless, Nikita and Eleventh Hour. What should make Batman fans a little nervous is the only comic book credit that the filmmaker has on his resume:



We can at least hope that Gotham's pilot will have a better script than Judge Dredd... right?

Rather than telling weekly stories about the Caped Crusader, the new series will take place in Gotham City before Batman made his first appearance. The show will center on James Gordon as the central protagonist and episodes will have him and the rest of the GCPD facing off against some of the city's most notable and notorious felons. The pilot, which was written by The Mentalist's Bruno Heller (who is also an EP), is backed by a series penalty so there is a very good chance that the show will have life beyond the first episode - not to mention the fact that Deadline says the project is a "priority for the network." And it absolutely should be - there's no denying the popularity of Batman.

The big question that remains is when we will actually get to see the show come to life. Neither the original report nor this new one mention when Fox is aiming to have the series start, but given their enthusiasm I wouldn't be surprised if the show started running later this year. Hopefully the project will see more progress soon and we'll get some casting news sooner rather than later.

In the meantime, does the hiring of Danny Cannon excite you for Gotham? Answer our poll below and tell us what you're thinking in the comments section below.