Earlier this week it was announced that FOX has given the green light to Warner Bros. Television’s Batman prequel series Gotham, and now showrunner Bruno Heller (The Mentalist) has spoken to Entertainment Weekly about the upcoming show, discussing which villains we can expect to see during the season:
“Obviously, the Penguin, Riddler, young Catwoman… Possibly Harvey Dent. Poison Ivy. Um … and then there will be others, but I hate to — I’m so used to doing a police procedural, so I’m used to telling, ‘Next week he’s going to go there.’ With this, it’s very much storytelling. So I would be remiss to tell you who will show up when. I will say we’re not going to skimp on giving people the characters they want and expect from Gotham. But when and how they’re going to show up is half the fun. Penguin is one of those guys that, as soon as you see him, you go, “Oh, that’s the Penguin.” It would be hard to disguise him as somebody else.”
And what about the Clown Prince of Crime?
“[The Joker] is the crown jewel of the Batman villains. He will be brought in with great care and a lot of thought… [Heath Ledger gave] a wonderful performance and — apart from everything else — wonderful make-up. And we should try to live up to that. It will be a different character. It’s certainly going to be more Heath Ledger than Cesar Romero. But like I say, all of these people are real people with feelings and emotions and history and parents. I just build from that.”
Be sure to read the full interview much more from Heller about the upcoming series.
Gotham stars Ben McKenzie (The O.C.) as Detective Jim Gordon, Sean Pertwee (Dog Soldiers) as Alfred Pennyworth, Robin Lord Taylor (Another Earth) as Oswald Cobblepot, Donal Logue (Sons of Anarchy) as Harvey Bullock, newcomer Camren Bicondova as Selina Kyle, David Mazouz (Touch) as Bruce Wayne, Cory Michael Smith (Olive Kitteridge) as Edward Nygma, Jada Pinkett Smith (The Matrix) as Fish Mooney, Zabryna Guevara (The Guilt Trip) as Detective Essen, Erin Richards (Being Human) as Barbara Kean and Drew Powell (Malcolm in the Middle) as Butch Gilzean. Watch the trailer here.
Originally published May 9, 2014. Updated December 13, 2019.
