Last month, on May 13th, 2018, FOX officially renewed the much-adored Batman prequel series, Gotham, for one final fifth season. Alas, the news wasn’t good enough for certain mega-fans of the DC show who have contributed to a petition on change.org, begging the showrunners to extend its life even further. The campaign, titled ‘Don’t end Gotham with the 5th Season. Bruno Heller please‘ is being run by a fan called Denver Braganza and has a goal of 1,500 signatures. It is accompanied by the hashtag #KeepGothamGoing.
At the time of writing, the campaign has amassed a total of 1,110 signatures. The statement written in support of the campaign reads:
I would like bring this petition to the notice of Gotham’s Executive Producer Bruno Heller on behalf of all the Gotham fans out there. Gotham is by far the BEST DC TV series produced yet. I have just 3 suggestions:
1) Tell us fans if there’s anything at all we can do to #KeepGothamGoing
2) Conduct a poll (on Facebook and other social media) on whether Gotham should continue or end with Season 5. You’ll be surprised by fans responses and comments (including the ones below)
3) Please take time to read this petition
After writing very enthusiastically about the show, referring to its “most talented actors”, “excellently shot” scenes and “perfectly coordinated” elements as well as lauding its stories, Braganza wrote a list of suggestions detailing possibilities as to how the Gotham showrunners could extend the life of Gotham.
1) Don’t end it with Season 5. Maybe move it to another network after Season 5.
2) Call it something like Season 10 or Season 20 so that it feels like the end but it could make a comeback to continue the story in-between Season 4 and the end and could continue later on another network or be renewed on Fox itself.
3) Make separate shows for few or at least one of the best villains (same Gotham actors probably the Penguin) and merge it back into Gotham when it can be revived.
4) Drop Gotham Season 5 from Fox and take time to find a better solution to #KeepGothamGoing. Fans can wait. (Maybe this is not possible because the Fox schedule has already been fixed)
5) Like I said above make a separate network for DC shows or urge DC to make one. There are a more DC shows coming up. And there are lots of animated DC movies/series that could run on it. The #CWNetwork could probably help with this.
Regardless of whether the campaign is a success, fans will definitely have ten more episodes of adventures in Batman’s crime-ridden city, confirmed by series star Carmen Biscondova, who plays the young Selina Kyle before her Catwoman glory days. Initially, reports had suggested that FOX had ordered thirteen episodes. On the bright side, executive producer has suggested that the characters in Gotham will begin to take on appearances closer to their comic book counterparts as their heroic and villainous destinies begin to reach fruition. Ben McKenzie, who plays Captain and future Commissioner James Gordon, is “growing his facial hair” according to the Stephens, suggesting an introduction of Gordon’s famous ‘stache.
The show will return for its final season in January 2019.