‘Gotham’ spoilers: Former ‘Mentalist’ boss explains early plans

Bruno Heller was the creator of “The Mentalist,” and after handing most of his day-to-day duties on that show over, he is now prepared for what may be one of his biggest challenges to date: “Gotham.” It goes without saying that superheroes are the sort of thing that you really do not want to get wrong. If you start to mess things up, then you have an unhappy army of comic fans at your door ready and willing to tell you just how much you’ve done them wrong.

The obvious challenge that Heller is facing here is pretty simple: There is no Batman. He has to find a way to ensure that things stay interesting with Gordon and many of the other characters that he does have.

So where is the focus? Right now, it’s with the villains. As Heller told reporters Sunday at TCA, the current plan is to showcase some of the familiar foes that could become major players in Gotham City down the line:

“We’ll be far more careful with how we roll out the villains and in what way. [The first season is very much about the rise of Penguin and his titanic struggle with Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith).”

Obviously, the someday-commissioner of Gotham will be involved there, and there’s some appeal there for us. Ultimately, we are right now the most intrigued by the chance to see some of these origin stories play out for famous villains early. We know that it’s unlikely that we’ll see someone like The Joker in child form right now, but who knows? Maybe down the road he and Mr. Freeze can have their own parts to play.

While we’re not completely sold on “Gotham” just yet, we are very excited to give it a shot when it premieres in the fall.