Gotham is an American crime television series developed by Bruno Heller, based on characters appearing in and published by DC Comics in their Batman franchise, primarily those of James Gordon and Bruce Wayne. The series stars Ben McKenzie as the young Gordon, while Heller executive produces along with Danny Cannon, who also directed the pilot. As originally conceived, the series would have served as a straightforward story of Gordon's early days on the Gotham City police force. The idea evolved not only to include the Wayne character, but also to tell the origin stories of several Batman villains. The first season order originally consisted of 16 episodes, but was later extended to a total of 22. Gotham premiered on Fox on September 22, 2014.