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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 "Jim" Gordon and Bruce Wayne / Batman. Starring Ben McKenzie as the young Gordon while Heller executive produced along with Danny Cannon, who also directed the pilot, the series premiered in the United States on September 22, 2014 on Fox television network, concluding on April 25, 2019 after five seasons, comprising a total of 100 episodes. Pennyworth, a spin-off prequel series to Gotham, also developed by Heller and Cannon and starring Jack Bannon as a younger incarnation of Gotham's Alfred Pennyworth, aired for two seasons on Epix from July 28, 2019 to April 11, 2021. A third season, also loosely adapting V for Vendetta, began airing on HBO Max from October 6, 2022.
As originally conceived, Gotham would have served as a straightforward story of Gordon's early days on the Gotham City Police Department, but the idea evolved, not only to include Wayne's "transformation" into Batman, but also to explore the origin stories of several of his villains, such as Penguin, Riddler, and Catwoman, amongst others. Pennyworth similarly explores Pennyworth's early life during the British Civil War, as he and Americans Thomas Wayne and Martha Kane seek to prevent the fascist Raven Society from overtaking the British government.
The following is a list of characters who have appeared in the television series. In addition to directly adapted characters from DC Comics, many others are based on, inspired by and/or otherwise reference preexisting characters without sharing the exact same identities.