<p id=”par-1_44″><em><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/law-and-order-svu/”>Law & Order SVU</a> </em>isn’t the only police procedural on network television, though it’s certainly <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/law-order-svu-turns-25-see-cast-then-now.html/”>one of the longest running</a>. Many have come and gone over the years, including <em>Gotham</em>. The hit Fox series took a unique approach to the sub-genre, focusing on the Batman mythology’s corrupt Gotham City before the superhero’s debut.</p>
<p id=”par-2_14″>But this <em>SVU </em>showrunner<em> </em>secretly hoped <em>Gotham </em>would fail so they could get their hands on this actor.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-svu-showrunner-warren-leight-regretted-not-signing-gotham-star-donal-logue”>‘SVU’ showrunner Warren Leight regretted not signing ‘Gotham’ star Donal Logue</h2>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” loading=”lazy” width=”1200″ height=”800″ src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Law-Order-SVU-Gotham.jpg?strip=all&quality=89″ alt=”Donal Logue as Harvey Bullock in an episode of ‘Gotham’.” class=”wp-image-3659157″ srcset=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Law-Order-SVU-Gotham.jpg 1200w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Law-Order-SVU-Gotham.jpg?w=640&h=427 640w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Law-Order-SVU-Gotham.jpg?w=1024&h=683 1024w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Law-Order-SVU-Gotham.jpg?w=150&h=100 150w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Law-Order-SVU-Gotham.jpg?w=768&h=512 768w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Law-Order-SVU-Gotham.jpg?w=525&h=350 525w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Law-Order-SVU-Gotham.jpg?w=254&h=169 254w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Law-Order-SVU-Gotham.jpg?w=200&h=133 200w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Law-Order-SVU-Gotham.jpg?w=761&h=507 761w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Law-Order-SVU-Gotham.jpg?w=90&h=60 90w” sizes=”(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px”><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Donal Logue | FOX/Getty Images</figcaption></figure>
<p id=”par-3_29″><em>SVU </em>showrunner Warren Leight became an important part of the franchise. He started out his career writing for <em>Law & Order </em>back in its earlier seasons. After years proving his worth, he’d eventually graduate to running <em>SVU </em>himself. Leight was responsible for developing <em>SVU </em>from seasons 13 through 17. </p>
<p id=”par-4_33″>After his tenure, he left <em>SVU </em>in the hands of showrunner Rick Eid. But although he was proud of his work on the hit TV show, he wasn’t afraid to admit he had a few regrets with the series.</p>
<p id=”par-5_40″>“I wish I had been able to…hm. Again, the audience deserved <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/christopher-meloni-reveals-exactly-why-left-law-order-svu.html/”>an arc out for Stabler</a>,” Leight once told <a href=”https://www.eonline.com/news/767943/law-order-svu-boss-warren-leight-on-stabler-regrets-benson-changes-and-a-final-word-to-fans”>E News</a>. “That should have been understood by everyone involved, instead I kind of walked in and he was just gone…A little out of my hands, but there’s still continued ill will about it and that’s unfortunate.”</p>
<p id=”par-6_63″>But another big regret he had was letting actor Donal Logue slip through his fingers. Logue played Lieutenant Declan Murphy in eight episodes of <em>SVU</em>. Leight was on the cusp of locking Logue up for a more permanent role in <em>SVU</em>. But <em>Gotham </em>got in the way. The showrunner quipped that he hoped the Batman prequel series would fail before it officially started so he could get Logue back.</p>
<p id=”par-7_49″>“I wish we had signed Donal Logue up,” Leight said. “We were falling in love with him and he was falling in love with the show and he got offered <em>Gotham</em> and we were not yet picked up at that point, so I couldn’t guarantee him a job. So, he did the pilot and we were hoping that would fail. He was great to work with.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-donal-logue-didn-t-think-gotham-was-too-far-off-from-svu-and-his-other-shows”>Donal Logue didn’t think ‘Gotham’ was too far off from ‘SVU’ and his other shows</h2>
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<iframe loading=”lazy” title=”Gotham: Camren Bicondova, Donal Logue, Cory Michael Smith Season 2 Interview – Comic-Con 2015″ width=”925″ height=”520″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/aXevxGBnODQ?feature=oembed” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen></iframe>
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<p id=”par-8_35″>Logue wasn’t only known <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/law-order-svu-wholaw-rollins-ex-declan-murphy.html/”>for <em>Gotham </em>and <em>SVU</em></a>. He already had a prolific career appearing in shows like <em>Sons of Anarchy </em>and <em>Vikings</em>. In <em>Gotham</em>, he’d also find himself playing a police officer. He starred in the television series as jaded officer Harvey Bullock, who operated as partner to the show’s main protagonist Jim Gordon. </p>
<p id=”par-9_20″>In an interview with <a href=”https://www.assignmentx.com/2014/donal-logue-walks-the-gotham-beat-interview/”>Assignment X</a>, Logue confided that he couldn’t be more excited doing the series. Especially given his newfound respect for comic books at the time.</p>
<p id=”par-10_88″>“Comics became a deeper literary form. I don’t know how to describe this,” Logue said. “It’s interesting, because years ago, when I was at MTV, for instance, they didn’t want to do a movie about a character I created who I found very interesting, because they said, ‘It’s not as complex as talking cockroaches [which MTV was doing a musical about at the time].’ Any time you find a person, anywhere, there is complexity. So I knew, especially because of the kind of noir-ish world, that it was very complicated, and I knew that certainly Batman<strong> </strong>has become kind of a new [source of drama].”</p>
<p id=”par-11_15″>Logue also compared <em>Gotham </em>to other shows he’d done, including <em>SVU</em>. He noted the projects actually had a few things in common.</p>
<p id=”par-12_95″>“For me, the biggest shift with this – and I wouldn’t say much of a shift, but coming from <em>Coppe</em>, <em>Vikings</em>, <em>Sons of Anarchy</em>, maybe even <em>Law & Order SVU</em>, things that are pretty visceral and also in their time and space very real-world, it’s just that – there was a question earlier about violence, and what’s interesting to me is, we have to step back in the violence, compared to the violence of <em>Vikings</em> or things that I’ve been doing,” Logue said. “So to me, I thought, ‘This is theatrical, and it’s shaded with some color.’ And in a way, I’m trying to adjust to how to get to the nonviolent world in which I live in <em>Gotham</em> in a way.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-donal-logue-would-eventually-return-to-law-amp-order-svu”>Donal Logue would eventually return to ‘Law & Order SVU’</h2>
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<iframe loading=”lazy” title=”Murphy Admits Leaving Rollins While Pregnant Was His Biggest Mistake | NBC’s Law & Order: SVU” width=”925″ height=”520″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/D6ZWpCVinG8?feature=oembed” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen></iframe>
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<p id=”par-13_24″>Logue <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/law-order-svu-donal-logue-teased-declan-murphy-return-what-we-do-in-the-shadows-episode.html/”>wouldn’t stay gone from <em>SVU</em></a><em> </em>for long. <em>Gotham </em>enjoyed a nice five-season-run that lasted from 2014 to 2019. When the show ended, Logue’s newfound availability allowed him to temporarily reprise his role as Declan Murphy for <em>SVU</em>.</p>
<p id=”par-14_18″>“My time on <em>SVU</em> was incredibly important to me, both as a person and an actor,” Logue told <a href=”https://www.tvinsider.com/1026413/law-order-svu-season-23-murphy-returns-rollins-donal-logue/”>TV Insider</a> about his return.</p>