Wayne (TV series)

***Wayne*** is a Fox superhero television series based on the DC comics character Batman. The series premiered on September 23, 2010 and aired for eight seasons and 150 episodes, before concluding on January 22, 2018.

## Plot

In the first season, Bruce Wayne is fifteen and a freshman at Gotham Academy. His parents were shot and killed in front of him three years ago, and now Bruce seeks to help others as Gotham begins becoming home to several out of the ordinary enemies and events. The most popular girl in school, Vicki Vale, begins dating James Gordon Jr., the son of a famous city detective, while Bruce's best friends Tommy Elliot and Julie Madison learn about Bruce's newfound penchant for helping others, and his butler Alfred Pennyworth begins training Bruce in military combat.

In the second season, Bruce begins looking into the Court of Owls, who were likely responsible for Thomas and Martha's deaths. Bruce must work with Tommy and Kate Kane to stop the Court from killing the Five Heirs (Bruce, Tommy, Kate, Angela Crowne, and Oswald Cobblepot). James is being tried for killing his mother, alienating Vicki at school, while Harvey Dent struggles to prove James innocent.

In the third season, Bruce and Vicki finally begin a relationship, while he works with Harvey and the police to round up all the escaped inmates from Arkham. Detective Larry Lance moves with his daughter Dinah to Gotham, and she befriends Barbara. The gang war ramps up, leading to Harvey going undercover, and Man-Bat is introduced.

In the fourth season, Vicki leaves with her mother, and Bruce takes a break from relationships, despite his brewing feelings for Julie, which she reciprocates. The Court continues to operate from the shadows, while their middle-eastern leaders are revealed, and Harvey is now too far gone and reborn as Two-Face. Dinah learns that her mother was a superhero and may have her super-gene.

In the fifth season, Bruce returns after being gone for fifteen months. The League of Shadows is revealed to have a splinter cell, led by Ra's al Ghul's daughter Nyssa. Bruce is changed after his absence and chooses not to resume his relationship with Julie. Tommy also begins to change, as he gets involved with the wrong crowds. Dinah also changes, as her superpower develops. Dick is introduced.

In the sixth season, with Bruce now having a few more allies, Gotham begins to change for the better. However, as Tommy "realizes" Bruce's betrayals over the years, he swears revenge, and the Wayne's ancient rivalry with the Arkham family is uncovered, leading to Jeremiah Arkham also wanting revenge, and teaming up with Hugo Strange.

In the seventh season, the Bertinelli family fortune is at risk after Frank and Rosa are killed, and their daughter Helena is on the run. She teams up with Bruce and his allies to stop Black Mask from getting her. Through these events, Bruce meets Falcone's illegitimate daughter Selina Kyle, and Dinah learns more of her mother's history, including the superhero group the Justice Society.

In the eighth and final season, after the No Man's Land event caused by Black Mask, a number of villains in Gotham take advantage of the vulnerable state. Jonathan Crane returns and takes a chunk of the city as his own, while the mysterious Joker club rises in the background. In the two-part series finale, Bruce embraces his dark destiny as Batman and faces the Joker for the first time.

## Cast

* Tyler Posey as Bruce Wayne
* Melissa Roxburgh as Vicki Vale (seasons 1-3 and 8; special guest star seasons 4-5)
* Pen Badgley as Harvey Dent/Two-Face (seasons 1-4; special guest star seasons 5 and 8)
* Lucas Till as Tommy Elliot/Hush (seasons 1-6; special guest star season 8)
* Freddie Highmore as James Gordon Jr. (seasons 1-3; special guest star season 5)
* Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Luke Fox (seasons 1-5; special guest star season 8)
* Jessica Sula as Julie Madison
* Peter Davison as Alfred Pennyworth
* Esai Morales as Larry Lance (seasons 3-5)
* Johnny Lee Miller as Jim Gordon (seasons 3-8; recurring seasons 1-2)
* Maya Hawke as Barbara Gordon (seasons 4-8; recurring seasons 1-3)
* Odeya Rush as Dinah Lance/Black Canary (seasons 5-8; recurring seasons 3-4
* Ansel Elgort as Dick Grayson (seasons 6-8; recurring season 5)
* BD Wong as Hugo Strange (season 6)
* Emma Dumont as Selina Kyle (season 8; recurring season 7)
* Camren Bicondova as Helena Bertinelli/Huntress (season 8; recurring season 7)

## Reception

The series attracted high viewership throughout its entire season. Season 1 was the least-watched season, averaging 11.51 million viewers per episode, while the sixth season was the most-watched, averaging 14.66 million viewers per episode. The series finale attracted 12.91 and 13.13 million live viewers for each part, respectively, the latter marking a series high in live viewership. The series also remained in the top ten programs of the television season for seasons 4-8.

## *Smallville* connections

Initial rumors of a crossover between the two series was debunked when *Wayne* seemingly introduced its own Lana Lang and Pete Ross in the fifth season episode "Field Trip". However, in either a retcon, or simply creating similar characters with similar names, in the eighth and final season, *Wayne* held a revival *Smallville* episode, entitled "Smallville", featuring Tom Welling, Erica Durance, Allison Mack, Justin Hartley, Aaron Ashmore, and Michael Rosenbaum. The episode aired on December 11, 2017 and attracted an audience of 12.33 million viewers, marking a nineteen-month high for the series. It was a "super-sized" 80-minute long episode (around 60 minutes without commercials) and was followed by a series retrospective that included an interview with the six aforementioned stars, along with Kristin Kreuk, Cassidy Freeman, Annette O'Toole, and John Schneider, that ran for 40 minutes (around 30 minutes without commercials) and was watched by 6.53 million viewers.