Unused Gotham Proposal Reveals A Very Different Series

Just before Bruno Heller received the green light for his vision of Gotham, a very different approach to the series was coincidentally being brewed from writer Henry Locke IV. A complete departure from Gotham's prequel approach to the Batman mythos, Locke's version would have occurred during Batman and his rogues gallery's tenure in Gotham City.

And instead of spotlighting James Gordon's battle against corruption, the series would have focused on original characters, and how Batman's colorful world  affected ordinary Gothamites. The series would have opened with Olivia Sage, a college dropout and a daughter of a Gotham City police officer whose sister has just been murdered. With Olivia's murder investigation as the entry point into Gotham's seedy underbelly, viewers would have seen The Riddler, Black Mask, Harley Quinn, Joker Venom, and The Falcone crime family throughout the first season.

Locke originally intended to self-finance and distribute the project on YouTube, he recently wrote on Voice From Krypton. But at the behest of his production collaborators, he aimed high a reworked the project with the intent of selling it to Warner Bros. After impressing a talent agency with his treatment, Locke got a show runner from Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman on board, and was almost ready to pitch Warner Bros.

Alas, the timing did not favor Locke. As he was gearing up his pitch, Warner Bros. made the announcement that they would produce FOX's Gotham as we know it today. Fortunately, Locke has posted his entire treatment package for the series, which you can read here. His vision for Gotham extends through three seasons, and would have exposed viewers to many different corners of the Dark Knight's world.

While Gotham has performed very well for Warner Bros. under executive producer Bruno Heller's direction, it's tough not to think how Locke's approach, which feels like a Gotham Central-meets- Marvels hybrid, would have fared with viewers.

What do you think? Would have preferred Locke's take on Gotham? Sound off in the comments below.

(Via i09)