Gotham, the highly-anticipated television series about Bruce Wayne's youth, has made its first major casting decision. This week, Ben McKenzie was named Detective James Gordon.

"All I can promise is I will do my best not to screw this up. Can't wait to get to work," McKenzie said via Twitter.

Fox has described Gotham as both the origin story of Batman as well as the history of Commissioner Gordon. McKenzie, who signed a deal with Warner Bros. TV in October, has a long history with the studio, which made him a shoo-in for the role.The studio cast the 35-year-old actor as Ryan in The O.C. back in 2003. He has also starred as Ben Sherman in Warner Bros. TV'sSouthland, which was cancelled last year, and the pilot for The Advocates, a CBS drama, Deadline reports.

Another reason why this casting was a no-brainer for Fox is the fact that McKenzie already knows his way around Gotham. He was the voice of Bruce Wayne in Batman: Year One, a 2011 animated film.

Other characters slated to appear in Gotham include Riddler, Penguin and Joker.

Similarly to Smallville (WB's live-action series depicting Clark Kent's high school years), Gotham will show Bruce Wayne's path to the cape. Kevin Reilly, Fox's chairman of entertainment, estimates that Bruce Wayne's story will begin at the age of 13. It will not be until the last episode, however, that Bruce Wayne will put on his cape, IGN reports, but that could change.

"This is an origin story for young Bruce Wayne," Reilly said in January. "[The show is about] Gotham on the brink ... how they all became who they were, what events led up to these characters becoming Catwoman [etc.]."

The series will take inspiration from Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, with dark tones and themes. Both the villains and Bruce Wayne himself will see slow, detailed character development.

"We're arcing to that," Reilly explained. "We're not starting in that world where the villains are in costume.. You begin to see the evolution of the eccentricities that become those characters, but you really sort of arc there. We don't start out in capes and costumes."

Reilly stated that Warner Brothers is hoping for 22 episodes, but it has yet to be determined how many episodes there will be or when Gotham will premiere.

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