After many false reports, Deadline is reporting that Fox‘s Gotham has found its lead, Detective James Gordon. Ben McKenzie, who most recently on Southland, has been cast for the role. McKenzie broke onto the scene long ago on The OC, which was a hit for the Fox network. Gotham has a series commitment and is based in DC’s Batman universe.

The series explores the origin of Jim Gordon but will also include a young Bruce Wayne. We’ve been told to expect to see Wayne turn into Batman when the series eventually concludes much like we saw in the CW’s Smallville which explored a young Superman/Clark Kent. There’ll also be other known characters and villains.

Previously some sites reported that Donal Logue was offered the role, based on nothing we can discern. Logue denied being offered the role. This also continues months of interesting casting for DC properties. McKeznie, who played a cop in Southland, proved on that show he has the acting chops and ability to knock it out of the park. Personally, that series was a favorite of mine.

We have confirmation from DC through their Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns