Misha Collins is Harvey Dent & Batman is dead in first trailer for The CW’s ‘Gotham Knights’

The CW is aiming to take us into a very different interpretation of Gotham City with the upcoming Batman spinoff Gotham Knights, and we finally have the first trailer to start making sense of it all.

The network dropped the full trailer on Instagram today, and it does a whole lot of world-building and set-up for a three-minute trailer. One thing is clear from the jump: Gotham City is very different from all the versions we’ve seen before. We get to meet Bruce Wayne’s adopted son Turner Hayes (Oscar Morgan), whose life is turned upside down when he learns his adopted father has not only been killed, but that he was also Batman.

From there, district attorney Harvey Dent (Supernatural alum Misha Collins) starts investigating the murder and ends up with an eclectic slate of suspects: the Arkham-born thief Duela (Olivia Rose Keegan), siblings Harper and Cullen Row (Fallon Smythe and Tyler DiChiara), and also Turner. Cue a well-timed jail break and the kids are on the run — with Batman’s adopted son teaming up with these would-be villains to try and solve the murder and clear their names. One interesting twist is the addition of an unexpected Robin in Carrie Kelley (played by Navia Robinson), the Robin from Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns series, who also joins with the runaways.

Check out the trailer below:

Obviously, there’s a lot to unpack here. Early on, theories abounded as to which “adopted son” the series might focus on (i.e. Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, or Damian Wayne), but the show is largely diverging from established Batman canon by placing the character of Turner Hayes into the role. We also get a sense of the series’ vibe here, which looks to have a good bit of humor to go with the action, along the lines of Batwoman (on its lighter days) or The Flash, and not quite as super-serious as something like the early seasons of Arrow. Of course, it’s always great to see Collins back on TV, though it’ll be interesting to see how he makes this role his own as the show goes on.

Gotham Knights is written by Chad Fiveash, James Stoteraux and Natalie Abrams. Fiveash and Stoteraux are also showrunners and executive producers alongside Sarah Schechter and Arrowverse architect Greg Berlanti. Resident Batman expert Danny Cannon (Gotham, Pennyworth) directed the pilot.

Looking for more sci-fi TV? The entire run of SYFY’s Battlestar Galactica is streaming now on Peacock, along with the second season of Resident Alien, which returns to SYFY this fall with new episodes.