After much back and forth, DC fans can finally – finally! – breathe easy tonight, as Fox has officially ordered up a fifth and final season of Batman prequel series Gotham, ensuring that we get one more batch of episodes to wrap things up.
This news arrives hot on the heels of a report earlier today, which said that the network was hoping to do one last run in order to hit the all-important 100 episode milestone for syndication. And though season 5 will likely be a shortened one, according to THR, we’re just happy that the show will live to see another day.
The network has yet to make an official announcement on the renewal – though we expect that to come soon – but The Hollywood Reporter believes it’ll be a 13-episode run, which will primarily focus on young Bruce Wayne’s transformation into the Dark Knight.
What could’ve influenced the execs to step back and weigh heavily on whether or not to renew the series possibly came from this week’s spike in ratings. Granted, the numbers weren’t as impressive as those posted in the past, but they certainly improved on lows from the previous week, drawing 2.196 million viewers for the live broadcast and earning a 0.7 share in the 18-49 demographic. Basically, that’s a 16.67% demo increase, with a 13% increase in viewership.
That’s likely because Thursday’s installment, titled “One Bad Day,” was also one of the most fan-pleasing episodes yet, as it brought Gotham closer to the Batman mythology than ever before. What’s more, the upcoming finale also promises to give the show a major restart, as producers have said that the events that close season 4 will blow Gotham wide open and “reboot” it for season 5. What that means, we don’t yet know, but we certainly can’t wait to find out!
