The CW's release of the first trailer for Gotham Knights has been met with backlash from fans, with issues being raised with the show before it's even made it to air. The CW's Gotham Knights show - not to be confused with the upcoming video game of the same name - comes as the latest in a long line of DC TV series based on the characters of the wider Batman mythos. Gotham Knights has survived The CW's culling of other DC shows, including the Arrowverse's Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman, and the tangentially related Naomi.
Although the cancellation of Arrowverse shows may have seemed a troubling sign for the future of CW's other DC-inspired projects, Gotham Knights remained unscathed. Following the story of Gotham City in the wake of Batman's death, Gotham Knights is set to follow Bruce Wayne's adopted son, Turner Hayes, as well as a number of other teen characters, including Duela, Carrie Kelley, and Stephanie Brown. The show is set to tell the story of these teen characters framed for Bruce Wayne's murder and their attempt to prove their innocence.
While the show itself remained a small ray of hope for DC's TV future, the Gotham Knights trailer has been met with backlash online. The Gotham Knights trailer quickly started trending for all the wrong reasons, with the show being called out for numerous creative choices as well as its apparent tone. The general consensus is that having canceled other shows in favor of Gotham Knights was a baffling choice by the CW, and that the upcoming show will be both disappointing and thoroughly unnecessary. While a show, of course, can not be thoroughly judged until it's been released, potential viewers have brought up a number of concerns with the series already.
Many tweets have pointed out the bizarre decision to center Gotham Knights' story around a new character - Turner Hayes (Oscar Morgan) - who is described in one tweet as "an original milquetoast son for Batman," wondering why a "spoiled-rich-white-teen boy be [the] focus of a show," as the idea is both outdated and overdone. Other tweets draw parallels between Gotham Knights and CW's Riverdale, which will end after season 7, pointing out how the show's story seems pointlessly contrived in order to blend the recently canceled Batwoman with the soon-to-end Riverdale.
Others called out CW for its cancelation of Arrowverse shows in favor of Gotham Knights. The trailer implies that Gotham Knights will tell a similar story to Batwoman - Batman is gone, and Gotham is in need of new heroes - but with the slate needlessly wiped clean. In fact, the backlash toward Gotham Knights seems focused around the cancelation of Batwoman, and the CW's apparent intention to replace one Batman-related show with another very similar story. By doing away with the characters and world of Batwoman, CW has paved the way for what some perceive to be little more than an exercise in generic storytelling. It would seem that the CW's upcoming series may not be able to snare audiences of Batwoman or other DC shows. Whether or not Gotham Knights will recover from the backlash remains to be seen, but it's already facing significant scrutiny long before release.