A role made famous by Gary Oldman in a number of Christopher Nolan's "Batman" films, "Southland" actor Ben McKenzie is filling a large shoes as he plays Gotham's Detective James Gordon. The actor has been tapped to star in Fox's "Batman" prequel as the young Gordon after he stars in the DC Universe animated feature film "Batman: Year One."

The 35-year-old actor starred opposite "Breaking Bad's" Bryan Cranston as the young Jim Gordon and him as Bruce Wayne/Batman in 2011. Now after two years since he voiced the famed DC's cape crusader, McKenzie is back as Detective Gordon as he tries to clean up Gotham and setting a good example to the young Bruce Wayne.

"All I can promise is I will do my best not to screw this up. Can't wait to get to work," the actor wrote on his Twitter account after landing the famous role. Featuring the classic "Batman" villains, "Gotham" is an action-pack TV series that will introduce each characters before they became a full-blown outlaws.

Ben also opened up about the franchise and his views about Chris Nolan Films shortly before the DVD release of "Batman: Year One." "I've seen the Christopher Nolan films," he said in an interview with Sci-Fi Talk posted in Daily Mail. ''I think they're just terrific and each time I see them I get interested in it again, but when you get a chance to actually be a part of something that's based on the source material."

"It's really exciting and it allows you to sort of experience what that character is experiencing, which is a darkly fun take on what it would be like if you could actually fight crime-if you could actually get revenge on all of the people you think are bad people in this world, if you could exact justice in an unjust world," he added. "It's thrilling. Even to be an actor playing that part, it's really fun."

The actor also revealed that playing Batman makes him a 12-year-old all over again as he watched the Adam West "Batman" TV series with his brother during afternoon when he came home from school. Although it is a different Batman, the memories of it puts a smile on his face.

While playing the young Jim Gordon, Ben will soon be seen on the big screen in "How to Make Love Like an Englishman." The actor will star alongside Salma Hayek, Jessica Alba and Pierce Brosnan.