Gotham The Official Gotham News and discussion thread - Part 5

[Arachnerd]

Iceman, no. Bad, bad Iceman. No ice cream for you.

 

[Pennywise]

According to Morena Baccarin, Cameron Monaghan will play another character on the show:

Spoilers for the second half of Gotham Season 4. There are few Gotham characters fans like to see more than Cameron Monaghan's Jerome Valeska, who's the closest this series has come yet to the iconic Batman villain the Joker. Jerome was locked up in Arkham when he last appeared, after being resurrected from the dead and having to sew his face back into place after a supporter sliced it off. Not only is Jerome returning in Season 4, but Cameron Monaghan is playing another character on Gotham too, according to co-star Morena Baccarin. Bustle reached out to Fox for confirmation, but had not received a response by the time of publication.


"Cameron Monaghan’s coming back," says actor, who plays Lee Thompkins, speaking to Bustle at a Gotham screening at Tumblr's New York office. "He’s never really left us. He’s got some incredible scenes." Those scenes will probably include Oswald, since the Penguin was carted off to Arkham in the midseason finale and may wind up as Jerome's cellmate. But Baccarin also revealed that Jerome will have another ally — one that looks remarkably like him. This is huge news, because, frankly, the cycle of killing and reviving Jerome is starting to get ridiculous, so it's good to know if he winds up being written off of the show for good, there will still be a chance to keep Monaghan around.

The actor didn't specify the name of Monaghan's new Gotham character, but indicated that he's a member of Jerome's own family. Since Jerome had a pretty terrible childhood that led him to become what he is today, it's likely that this relative won't have had a much sunnier experience growing up. According to Baccarin, this character is also "psychotic" and together, the two will be "leading Gotham to revolt."

https://www.bustle.com/p/cameron-mo...-according-to-co-star-morena-baccarin-8363612

Could this possible relative/doppelgänger be the man who becomes The Joker?

 

[Arachnerd]

...uh.

I...don't know what to think. It's very flimsy, but if it allows us to keep Cameron as the Joker, I'm game.

 

[Pennywise]

...uh.

I...don't know what to think. It's very flimsy, but if it allows us to keep Cameron as the Joker, I'm game.

Part of me wonders if this character could still be a clone considering we heard the laugh and what resembled Jerome from behind at the end of S2, making them somewhat family.

 

[Arachnerd]

After watching BobaTalks' recent video, the clone theory seems to be turning out more likely.

 

[Guts]

Maybe we find out that the real Joker is actually Jerome's Indian Hill clone.

 

[Hunter Rider]

I liked the Toyman style hitman in last weeks ep, some good stuff.

 

[ZIPBAGS]

Maybe we find out that the real Joker is actually Jerome's Indian Hill clone.

This...If Jerome isn't Joker than it would make sense that his clone is....Since Joker's background is murky. Plus Cameron makes a great Joker.

 

[Arachnerd]

After all the spoiler-ific teases and clues I've seen the past few weeks, I'm 100% sure [BLACKOUT]that Cameron Monaghan will play the Joker, even if the Joker isn't Jerome.[/BLACKOUT]

 

[Pennywise]

We here at ComicBook.com reached out to the folks at FOX and they confirmed that "No Man's Land" was indeed the title of the finale, though they didn't share any specific information about the episode itself.

So this means one of two things could happen with this finale. Either this title could just be a clever nod to a popular comic arc, or Gotham could be heading into the most intense and destructive storyline in its history. Based on what we've been told about this season's conclusion, we're guessing it's the latter.

Earlier in the season, we spoke exclusively with co-executive producer Bryan Wynbrandt, who revealed that a major cliffhanger was in store for the Season 4 finale.

"While we're leaving a lot on the table, there's going to be plenty left for us to put on the table after this season," Wynbrandt teased. "I mean, we're driving to a really amazing place where, talk about a cliffhanger! It's going to be insane."


As Wynbrandt continued, he teased that the finale would have fans craving a fifth season. Kicking off a "No Man's Land" arc would certainly do just that.

"Right now, our focus is on the characters we have," said Wynbrandt. "I mean we have I think the biggest cast on television and every one of them deserves their own story. I mean everyone is so good. So right now we're just trying to figure out the best way to service our cast before we introduce anyone else and for us the exciting thing for us is bringing in Jerome, pushing the story forward and we're certainly going to leave this season in a place where people are going to want a Season 5."

http://comicbook.com/dc/amp/2018/03...o-mans-land-batman/?__twitter_impression=true

 

[Arachnerd]

I'm very intrigued.

 

[Pennywise]

I really hope Fox renews the show for S5, otherwise it'll suck if they cancel it and leave it on a cliffhanger!

 

[Arachnerd]

It could always get picked up by Netflix (they own streaming rights to it) or the new DC streaming service. Hopefully.

 

[Pennywise]

Laugh it up, Gotham-ites. After this week's episode, the only one even remotely smiling is gonna be baddie Jerome Valeska (Cameron Monaghan).

Last seen surprising new Arkham resident Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) in the midseason finale, we're finally about to see what the clown prince of crazy has in mind for not just the asylum's inmates, but also for the outside world.

All it takes is a toxic case of Poison Ivy and suddenly, everything seems fuzzy.
"Arkham is just the very first step in a multi-faceted plan to take down his enemies and Gotham at large," explains Monaghan (Shameless), who is returning as the proto-Joker for a bunch of episodes leading up to the Season 4 finale.

In Thursday's episode, "A Dark Knight: A Beautiful Darkness," we see that Jerome has the king of Gotham's favorite lock-up—which is hell for poor Penguin—and it won't be long before he's running the streets, too. That means trouble for past foes Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) and Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz), as well as a player to be named later.

"He also has a new target," confirms Monaghan. "There is someone else that he wants to hunt down and take a certain revenge on."

So why try to take over a city he's already failed at conquering? The scene-stealer confesses that his stitched-faced villain's latest plan is bigger and bolder.

"[Jerome] wants a greater sense of destruction, a greater sense of chaos," Monaghan reveals. "He wants to bring all of that to a grander scale. He is all about expansion, so he wants to maximize the amount of suffering that he causes."

The endgame: To turn the city into a literal madhouse.

"And Jerome has a way to fully accomplish that. We'll see him developing new techniques," some of which Monaghan says "will be very familiar to fans of the comics."

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And speaking of cribbing from Gotham's DC Universe source material, Monaghan is excited to announce that Jerome will be building what he refers to as "our Legion of Horribles," which is sure to to leave fans shook.

"He's teaming up with people that we've never seen him with before, so it's cool to see these iconic characters gathered together. It reminds me of [Batman's 1996-97 storyline] The Long Halloween...it looks like something straight off the comic-book panels."

Among the squad of "Horribles" will be Penguin, the Mad Hatter (Benedict Samuel), Scarecrow (Charlie Tahan), Solomon Grundy (Drew Powell), Firefly (Camila Perez) and Mr. Freeze (Nathan Darrow).

"It's a whole rogue's gallery that will be working together to [terrorize] Gotham in a way we've never seen before," Monaghan says.

It's a good thing Bruce is getting closer to his caped-crusader destiny (especially after tonight's fateful alley interaction with

Spoiler

), because Gordon is gonna need as much backup as he can collect this time.

Spoiler

This is going to be awedome!

 

[Arachnerd]

Escalation. Heath Ledger's Joker would be proud.

 

[ironman29758]

http://comicbook.com/dc/2018/03/08/gotham-no-mans-land-long-halloween-story-arcs-confirmed/

Gotham is taking things back to Batman's comic roots this season, adapting two of the Caped Crusader's most beloved story arcs: The Long Halloween and No Man's Land.

Back in the fall, the Gotham cast and producers hinted that The Long Halloween would be one of the big influences for the season, but nothing from the book has made it to the screen to this point. Additionally, "No Man's Land" was recently confirmed as the title of the Season 4 finale, leaving fans to wonder whether it was a clever Easter egg, or if the Earth shattering story arc would actually play out on the show.

Ahead of Jerome's big episode tonight, ComicBook.com spoke exclusively with star Cameron Monaghan, and he revealed that both popular Batman stories are going to play a part in the rest of the season. He first touched on the No Man's Land situation.

"We're borrowing very heavily from some of the most iconic Batman storylines," Monaghan told us. "I think that they're deep enough, and they show where its really splitting that duality and start totally embracing the main arcs. I think that we did a little bit in season three to bring it into The Killing Joke

"I will say that the second-to-last episode of the season is called 'One Bad Day'. That will be a little bit of an indication of how much we're gonna be ingrained in the books, specifically the No Mans Land storyline. I don't want to say what it exactly is for the people that haven't read it yet, but if you have read it, you know what it is, and the show is going there. And we're picking up the pace in a way that the show has never gone, done before. It's getting real. And the show is going on a different time, and at great speed and at the same time it's also taking us to a level of stakes that it never has before, and we really do see a really epic number of arcs reach their climax and cause an escalation that we've never seen on the show before. Where, if you've seen all these different situations force Bruce into the man he’s going to be and it's going to be challenging him in a way that he’s never been challenged before, both in a grand scale but also in a very personal sense, as well. Yeah, can't wait for people to see it."

Earlier this year, Monaghan tweeted out one of the most iconic frames from The Long Halloween comics, where Joker and several other major villains are gathered together in a room, teasing that the story arc would be coming to the show.

We asked the actor about the tweet, and he confirmed that the upcoming episodes will in fact be influenced by the comic series.

"Most of the characters on that page are the ones that are going to be teaming up," Monaghan said. "They're interacting with each other. I do think that there's something about the nature of the Long Halloween and what that story is about things acting up between these different characters who are all having the arc and causing their own sort of unique layer of chaos around them. Basically getting bounced between one or the other, they're all taking over cities, and doing things in interesting ways. I think that a lot of what we're doing this season is very inspired by The Long Halloween and similar comics. It's also an awesome thing. It's one of my favorite ever.

"I do think there's a lot that's inspired by that. Obviously we have No Man's Land and we have The Killing Joke and we have other major story arcs that we're playing. We're really getting into it this year. I think the way that the story escalates is something that shifts and is not anything the show has done before. I think it's going to be a really unique experience. Especially by the past few episodes, it's going to be really ... it's pretty insane. I hope that people react to it well and I know its one of the most exciting things of where the story is going and how much they're going for is really cool."

The madness begins tonight when Monaghan's Jerome returns to Gotham at 8pm ET on FOX.

So this will be an exciting second half of season 4 to say the least.

 

[Pennywise]

The second to last episode is called “One Bad Day”?! The birth of Joker!

Hope we see the chemical bath!!

 

[Arachnerd]

One Bad Day better be the episode to introduce the Joker. With that title, it's almost a guarantee at this point.

 

[Pennywise]

Cameron confirmed he's playing two characters:

It's official! Cameron Monaghan is bringing not one, but two agents of chaos to Gotham this season.

Last week, Gotham star Morena Baccarin reportedly let slip that Monaghan, best known for his role as Jerome, was taking on multiple roles in the back half of the season. She said that the other character was some kind of relative to Jerome, leading many to believe that this could in fact be the introduction of the Joker to Gotham.

Fortunately, we can now confirm that Monaghan is officially pulling double duty for the arc this spring. ComicBook.com spoke exclusively with Monaghan ahead of Jerome's return on Gotham this week, and we asked the actor about the challenges that come with playing multiple roles at once.

"It's a very strange thing," Monaghan admitted. "Obviously I can't get too much into what the theory is or what that's like. I will say that I wanted to make this guy feel distinct and I wanted to make him be visually different, I wanted him to carry himself different, I wanted his voice to be different. I wanted everything about him to be accepted. So that's a challenge in itself, but also a challenge is, you're basically acting with yourself. It's a very weird thing. It's definitely one of the most challenging things I've ever had to do as an actor. It was a bit of a head-trip."

As he continued, Monaghan began making some slight connections between Jerome, this new character, and the Joker.

"I can't wait for it to all be cut together, and for everything that happened to make its way forward. I can't wait to see it," he said. "It's a really unique experience and I think the story, it's really clever. I think it helps spin the narrative of both Jerome and the Joker, in a new and exciting kind of way. It adds its own twist to the mythos. I think it’s really fun and really unique. So yeah. I can't tell you enough, it's a really cool challenge."

While he obviously didn't come right out and say "This new character is the Joker," Monaghan's words did put them in the same conversation. David Mazouz, who plays Bruce Wayne on the series, recently told us that the Joker's introduction to the series would be shock fans. He even went as far as to say that this reveal was the best way to "have Jerome maybe be involved in the creation of the Joker but have him not be the Joker."

Fortunately, Gotham fans won't have to wait very long to see this big reveal, or this mysterious new character. In fact, we could be seeing him appear in the next couple of weeks. We asked Monaghan how long it would be before the character would make his debut.

'Um, not very long at all," Monaghan replied. "You know, obviously Jerome comes back in episode 4x13 and It will only be two or three more episodes until we start getting to this new one. You don't have to wait too long."

It's entirely possible that this debut could actually take place next week. The upcoming episode is titled "A Dark Knight: Reunion," and it seemed like a safe bet to assume the name was alluding to a reunion between Bruce and Alfred, and/or Penguin and Nygma. However, it could also be referencing Jerome meeting up with a relative that he hasn't seen in some time, who's just now coming to Gotham City.

New episodes of Gotham air on Thursday nights at 8pm ET on FOX.

http://comicbook.com/dc/2018/03/08/gotham-cameron-monaghan-playing-two-roles-jerome-joker/

 

[NotNickFury]

Since it slipped from Baccarin first, I wonder, had she not revealed Monaghan playing another character, if that would've been kept as a surprise for viewers.

 

[Arachnerd]

I think it helps ease a lot of fans' concerns about [BLACKOUT]whether or not Cameron Monaghan will still be playing the Joker, which coupled with all this new information, seems to be a sure bet.[/BLACKOUT]

 

[Pennywise]

Another interview with Cameron Monaghan:

CBR: Where do viewers find Jerome when we meet him again?

Cameron Monaghan: He’s in Arkham Asylum. He’s healed up from his arc in Season 3. He has his face scarring. With that, we have a new evolution in his personality, voice and performance as well. He’s in Arkham and he’s kind of the king of his roost. He’s taken over in a lot of ways. The inmates are running the asylum. Jerome takes special interest in Oswald, and sees him as his own personal pet project to torture and push him as much as he can.

Let’s touch on that. Why is Jerome so invested in Oswald?

Penguin is this interesting figure within the city of Gotham. He’s this guy who has worked in the shadows and publicly. He’s skirted the line between lawful and completely chaotic or villainous. He’s risen and fallen multiple times in the ways that pretty much no other character can dream of. And, he’s established himself as a legend within the criminal circles. Jerome is fascinated by him and who this guy is. He is impressed by Oswald, and also sees him as utterly pathetic, at the same time.

Jerome wants to push him to his absolute extreme and breaking point. He wants to see if he can rebuild Oswald in his own image of insanity. He also wants Oswald to embrace his insanity or chaos, because he is forming a team of villains. Jerome wants to cause an uprising of chaos and destruction within Gotham City itself, with a whole legion of villains behind him. Oswald is his first domination, but certainly not his last, in this plan that he has.

Jerome wants to cure Oswald of his sad, mopey existence. How does he go about accomplishing that?

For all intents and purposes, he tortures him. He creates a public spectacle out of Oswald’s humiliation. Oswald has this newfound timidness about him as he’s been beaten over the course of the last few episodes. However, Oswald can’t possibly take it any more and snaps and he has to gain real aggression and think creatively to find some way out of this situation. As soon as he can find a greater way to deal with it, and to embrace the strangeness of the situation, then Jerome is happy with him. He’s going to torture Oswald until he gets to that point.

Speaking of strange, how bizarre was it filming a mime showdown between Jerome and Oswald?

That was fun. That’s something you are not going to see on any other show or movie. It’s a resolution to a scene and a conflict. That is Gotham firing on full levels of pure insanity. Robin Lord Taylor is a fantastic actor. That’s a scene that only works if both him and I really embraced the absurdity of it. We have this scene that is a lot of fun. I can’t wait for people to see that one. It feels out of left field, but it also feels tonally right for Jerome and his interactions.

Between Jerome and Oswald, there’s a lot of craziness going on. Are they kindred spirits, or is it only a matter of time before they turn on each other?

I think with two characters like this, there’s no way they are every going to be two peas in a pod. They are a bit of oil and water in their ideologies. They have this respect for each other in this reluctant camaraderie, especially with the reluctance being on Oswald’s part. Oswald goes from being antihero to full-on villain, but he has some semblance of conscious and some understanding of good. At least he has some belief in order. Jerome is pure, unadulterated chaos. He embraces it on its grandest level. Ultimately, two characters like that can only coexist for so long and be both a partnership and rivalry.

During his last appearance, Jerome targeted Bruce Wayne. How much of that obsession remains?

I think that rivalry between Jerome and his ideology, the ideology of the Joker, is going to be fundamental in establishing the story of Bruce Wayne within the show. Another established adversary is James Gordon, so we see them interacting with each other, too. Obviously, Jerome’s initial mission was to create chaos in Gotham.

We also see new characters and the exploration of some of Jerome’s past. We meet some key figures from his past. Jerome wants to eradicate his history and destroy all that. There’s one key figure he’s trying to chase down. I will say we are seeing an exploration of his motivations, his plans and his ambitions, but we are also personalizing Jerome and grounding him.


You mentioned Jerome is forming his own supervillain team. Who are some of his recruits?

We obviously have Jerome and Penguin. We have Mad Hatter. Jerome and Mad Hatter have a lot in common. Mad Hatter is almost a bit of a protégé or right–hand man to Jerome. There’s Scarecrow, who comes to play in a big way because of his expertise with chemistry and chemical composition. Fans of the comics know that would be very important to Jerome. We have Firefly, Mr. Freeze and Solomon Grundy. There’s a bunch of guys on this team. It’s amazing to see all these characters interacting with each other in live–action. It’s splashy and feels like its been ripped right off the pages or panels of comic books.

There have been theories and speculations about whether Jerome is really “The Joker.” What is your take on the subject?

I think that he is in many ways. He is the proto-Joker. Jerome is the foundation on which everything else is built. He is the first wave of the ideology. In that sense, he absolutely is because he has all the same traits we will see echoed in new and interesting ways. I feel with Jerome, he was a love letter to the 75-plus years of the character of the Joker. He was an affirmation and a tip of the hat in a respectful ode to the comic book storylines that came before, and the performances — both in live–action and in the animated series. A lot of the stuff done in all these different mediums, we wanted to pay tribute to the many different evolutions of the character, both physically and behaviorally.

But, we also wanted to craft our own voice and our own interpretation, and to bring a new direction that felt tailor-made for the Gotham universe, and someone who would feel dangerous in that world as well. You could look at Jerome both as the Joker and as not him. Ultimately, he has the key concept and key traits, but he doesn’t have to be singular within our canon. That’s what is fun about him. He is the foundation on which the other thing is now built on top of.

So, this new character Cameron plays might be a relative after all!

 

[NotNickFury]

Yeah, whatever happened to Firefly and Freeze? They were working for Oswald, but now that he's in Arkham, I wonder if they're just...either free agents, wandering around, or maybe now working for Sofia? Or heck, maybe they got caught and taken to Arkham, too.

Either way, curious how the two of them plus Grundy end up working alongside Jerome.

 

[ZIPBAGS]

David sure has grown taller again. In one scene with Gordon...Jim is looking up at him. Just wish he would pack on the muscles a bit more. Still too lanky.

 

[Arachnerd]

He'll get there one day.