Gotham The Official Gotham News and discussion thread - Part 5

[Arachnerd]

The bird king.

 

[ironman29758]

 

[Pennywise]

EXCLUSIVE: Gotham: How Robin Lord Taylor's Penguin Takes Control in Season 5

What's a Penguin to do when Gotham gets cut off from the rest of the world? Why, seize control, of course! By the time Season 5 starts up, Oswald Cobblepot has established himself in City Hall, where he enjoys a seat of high power. From there, he will attempt to rebuild Gotham in his image -- unless one of No Man's Land's other factions has something to say about it, that is.

During a set visit in October, Penguin actor Robin Lord Taylor told CBR about his character's post-No Man's Land life. He teased how his decision to turn Riddler and Lee Thompson over to Hugo Strange will change their dynamic and why his reunion with Riddler is one of his favorite moments of the season. He also explained the fragile truce between Gotham's warring factions, how Jeremiah factors into No Man's Land and more.

CBR: What is Penguin's role in No Man's Land?

Taylor: As most people would see Gotham being cut off from the rest of the world as something to be panicked about, Penguin saw an opportunity, and this is his chance. There's a vacuum there of control, and so he puts himself in City Hall because let's not forget he was mayor once. So in a very twisted Gothamway, he is the most qualified person for that position. There's been a vacuum of power in the city and… also, he really does believe that he's doing the right thing. Like, someone needed to be there to organize, to make sure -- you know -- some system of order is in place and he rebuilds it in his image. So he starts off in a very high place of power in Season 5.

Is Jeremiah going to be a help or a hindrance to Penguin's new order?

You know, Jeremiah is -- as much as anyone else, and I will say we have like all of these -- because everyone controls their own separate factions in the city -- in a weird way, like, the second anyone slips up, someone is ready to take him out and to take over. So, you know, everyone is a hindrance. Everyone is a hindrance and a help! Because at the same time, we all need each other. We all control different parts of the city and so, like, we all need something from each other, and so there's this very shaky truce going on between everyone and Jeremiah is just a part of that fabric.

What is his dynamic with Hugo Strange, Riddler and Lee Thompson?

He's responsible for them being alive, for Hugo Strange bringing them back, because again, he knows that better to trust my enemy/my enemy is my friend kind of thing. You know, having worked with them, and then just knowing that he has brought them back gives him some control over them essentially. You know, it's like, in a way, they are beholden to him and yeah, you'll definitely see -- he's the last one who essentially had a part in their lives, you know? And bringing them back. So he has the answers that they're going to need to find out what happened to them. So I'm sure they'll come around.

In the Season 4 finale, we watched Penguin murder Butch in an act of utter cruelty. Will we see more of that in Season 5

Definitely. [laughs] Yeah, we will! And I will say, though, that's kind of the dynamic with the characters. It is cruel, but at the same time, it was a punishment to Tabitha for murdering his mother in his arms. You know, it's like it's nice to see -- well, I mean, it's not nice, excuse me, not nice at all, but like, he never forgot that and so it's like we're carrying on pieces of these characters through years. So old grudges are still there, simmering underneath all of these shaky alliances that everyone has with each other.

You know, I've said before that, ultimately, for the end of this story that we're telling with Gotham with regards to the Penguin, it should be a story of someone who started off with like a sliver of humanity, with something good in there, and it's ultimately been taken out of them and he becomes the super-villain -- the monster that we are all familiar with. It's a story about how Gotham destroys people and we'll see him do, unfortunately, very cruel things coming forward.

Do you have a favorite moment or scene from Season 5 you could tease?

I do! I have a favorite -- well, I'll say there's one of my favorite scenes between Penguin and the Riddler and it's when they come back together in this season and it really solidifies where their relationship has gone and where it is now after everything that's happened. Yeah, it really illuminates that in a really, really awesome way. So yeah, that's the one.

 

[ironman29758]

EXCLUSIVE: Gotham's Alfred Promises Massive Fight With Actual Repercussions

Alfred Pennyworth is about to learn one of the hardest lessons of parenting: letting go. In the Gotham Season 4 finale, the loyal butler left the city with Selina Kyle to oversee her recovery, while his charge Bruce Wayne stayed behind to stop Jeremiah once and for all. Though Alfred will be spending some time outside Gotham with Selina, don't count him out just yet; Gotham star Sean Pertwee promised his character will see some action in Season 5 -- but he may pay a major price for it.

During a set visit in October, Pertwee told CBR about Alfred's role now that Gotham has gone full "No Man's Land." He discussed Alfred's evolving relationship with Selina and how his character sees himself in her. He also teased a crucial fight that "actually has repercussions," a major moment between Alfred and Bruce and more.
CBR: At the end of last season, Bruce struck out on his own. How is Alfred coping with that?

Pertwee: Well, you know, no parent likes it and that's what he is, essentially. He's a parent, and a bit like every parent -- like I'm doing with my own son, who's called Alfred -- you've got to let them fly... It's a tightrope, dealing with a teenager. You've got to be there, you've got to give them parameters, but you also have to let them go. And after his behavior last season, I should have let him go. I should have chucked him off a building, really. Disgraceful! He's so mean to me. I love the fact that the liturgy of fans actually sort of piped up and stuck by Alfred and the support was so evident. It's like, "How do you deal with this guy? He's a nightmare! Bruce of Wall St., or whatever it is." Yeah, so, that's it. Yeah.

How does Alfred's relationship with Selina evolve?

A lot of people have asked that! It's quite interesting, because it was something that's -- John Stephens, I was talking to him about it last night because I've got a couple of quite big scenes with her coming up and I said, well, of course, you know, the thing is the reason why he's like that with [her] is because he sees himself in her, because he was a troubled child and ran with the gangs and everything in the East End of London before he joined the services and he has a very dark past and he sees a lot of himself in her and John Stephens said, "Interesting. I never knew that." [laughs]

So, this is the last season and we have to find a way to give our characters heartbeats and that's what's so clever about our show. When we're developing these characters, you don't leap in. They become the people by Season 5. Everyone has a propensity for violence and goodness and badness. That's what I love about the show. Everyone fails. Everyone's fallible, as was Alfred as a parent. I mean, his parenting skills were a nightmare to begin with but then he learned to love and the boy respected and loved him back. Then they had this very strange relationship and she was part of it. Otherwise, she'd be swimming with the fishes, I imagine. There must have been a reason -- because I said this to John -- I said there must be a reason why he put up with her. You know, she stabbed and kicked my friend out of a window! Stabbed people. Stole from us. Messed with him. Alfred doesn't take kindly to that, so I had to find a reason for it, and it's because he sees himself in her and he knows that he cares for her.
Alfred is truly a man of action. Does that continue in Season 5?

Yes. [laughs] That's all I can say! There's not as much, because -- as you know -- I've had some legendary altercations with people... the stunt guys Norman [Douglass] and Turner [Smith] have allowed me to do all my own fights, which I love to doing. My wife doesn't like it when I do them, because I come home black and blue and I don't bounce like I used to, but yeah, there's a massive one coming up, which actually has repercussions, and I can't say anymore.

Do you have a favorite moment or scene from Season 5?

No, I haven't shot it yet. I know what it is, and I can't wait. We've had very little alone time, and we always have that. Bruce and I, we have culmination scenes; when he discovers, like, "Thou shall not kill" and I say, "Say it again." Which is like the mantra for Batman, and that was an amazing moment for us, to say that, because David [Mazouz] being a huge Batman fan, it's a huge part of his character, and he gets there with Alfred, whereas Alfred has absolutely no worries about knocking someone off or killing somebody. So there's a couple of scenes coming that I'm really looking forward to and with the man, but they haven't happened yet, so that's all I can say.

Airing Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox, Gotham stars Ben McKenzie as James Gordon, Donal Logue as Harvey Bullock, David Mazouz as Bruce Wayne, Robin Lord Taylor as Penguin, Camren Bicondova as Selina Kyle, Erin Richards as Barbara Kean and Sean Pertwee as Alfred Pennyworth. The fifth and final season is scheduled to premiere on January 3.

The trailers and promos have also been A1, this season. It really has been building hype up on all facets, but hopefully it brings in viewership as well.

 

[ironman29758]

And now a Donal interview about Harvey in season 5 (I love his energy)
Gotham's Harvey Bullock Reveals Why He Stayed in No Man's Land

Harvey Bullock is sticking with Jim Gordon until the bitter end. Though the two have had their ups and downs over the course of Gotham, Harvey will stand by Jim's side as the city plunges into chaos and becomes "No Man's Land" -- even if it kills him.

During a set visit in October, Gotham star Donal Logue told CBR about Harvey's position in No Man's Land. He offered some insight into his character's decision to stay in Gotham, his personal take on Harvey's mindset and how Harvey and Jim's dynamic will evolve in Season 5. He also teased a special moment between Harvey and David Mazouz's Bruce Wayne and more.
CBR: At the end of Season 4, Harvey Bullock decided to stay behind and help Gotham. How's that working out for him?

Logue: It's chaotic and it's messy, but, you know, Harvey -- probably more than any other person in Gotham -- has nowhere else to go. Psychologically, he has nowhere else to go. All he has is the GCPD. All he has is Jim Gordon. All he has is his identity as a cop. He has a pretty sad personal life, I would say, and so part of it is out of a sense of duty to do good, but a lot of it -- a lot of what drives us as human beings -- is just out of what to do to feel like we're part of something and that's Harvey with Jim and the GCPD.


How does Harvey's dynamic with Jim evolve in Season 5?

It was on this trajectory from the beginning, where you're drawn to this person, your lot is tied to this person and Jim undeniably is such an exceptional human being that Harvey tied himself to that, you know, attached himself to that wagon and he's going to be on it for as long as he can. They've gone back and forth; they've probably felt senses of betrayal on both sides, but the overall codependency is so strong that Harvey is kind of ride or die with Jim Gordon. Jim has other options. Jim has relationships, etc, but there's nothing that matches -- like, Harvey doesn't have that. Harvey's like Marty, Ernest Borgnine. Like, Jim is Marty; he gets his own life. He has a girlfriend, etc, but Harvey is by himself.
How is Harvey adjusting to the reality of No Man's Land?

I think Harvey is more of a pragmatist when it comes to this kind of thing. We have the Green Zone and the Green Zone is safe, but Jim wants to venture out a bit more and do more and help more people and Harvey just wants to maintain what they have and not take extra measures to try and be Superman. He's more pragmatic, and Jim of course leads him into much more dangerous territory... You know, Harvey is always willing to go, and my private joke is that Harvey is hoping that -- Harvey doesn't give a **** if he dies or lives. In a way, it's almost like an act of mercy, so he does these kind of crazy things because he doesn't really necessarily care. That's just my own little pocket secret.

What does Harvey think of this new, up-and-coming vigilante who's trying to exact justice on the city?

You know, it's interesting, because when you look back, it's amazing how little interaction -- Harvey's relationship with Bruce is so different than Jim's, and he's been exposed to him a lot less. I think he thinks the kid is tough and he's impressive, but he has no sense that he can be who he can be. No sense. I think that, in a weird way, Jim is probably much more aware that this is a young protege who's got some exceptional abilities, but I think Harvey just sees him as a kid and he has no sense that this man can become the vigilante that they need to save this anarchic city.

Do have a favorite moment or scene from Season 5?

You know, I have a scene with Bruce that I really love a lot, and it was like we hadn't had that time in how many seasons, so I would say that. Getting to work with David [Mazouz] was really special.

Airing Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox, Gotham stars Ben McKenzie as James Gordon, Donal Logue as Harvey Bullock, David Mazouz as Bruce Wayne, Robin Lord Taylor as Penguin, Camren Bicondova as Selina Kyle, Erin Richards as Barbara Kean and Sean Pertwee as Alfred Pennyworth. The fifth and final season is scheduled to premiere on January 3.

And a Screenrant interview with Cameron
How Gotham’s Version of The Joker Is Unique To Any Other

Jerome/Jeremiah are wholly unique from any previous version of The Joker. Legally, the characters played by Cameron Monaghan in Fox's Gotham are not The Joker. Perhaps Jerome/Jeremiah influenced the man who would one day become The Joker, but the cast and showrunners are allowing their Mr. J character to exist as his own entity, who essentially functions a proto-Joker, if not the man himself. Regardless, Cameron Monaghan's performance has earned praise for offering a unique, unpredictable, and wholly unprecedented take on Batman's single most iconic nemesis.

Regardless of the legal status of The Joker in live-action DC media, Gotham surely still has plenty of surprises in store for their version of The Joker. Gotham is an origin story, but The Joker, famously, doesn't have a single accepted origin story. As the character himself states in the comics, "If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!”
With this in mind, Gotham has been free to go for broke with telling whatever story they wanted with Jeremiah/Jerome, and it's only going to get crazier during the show's fifth and final season. During our recent visit to the set of Gotham, we spoke to Cameron Monaghan, the actor behind the makeup, scars, and purple hair, who expressed glee at the creative freedom afforded to this version of the character:

It’s heightened and convoluted and strange and slightly beyond what would be normal or acceptable, but I think that works with this character. You want a background where you’re not exactly sure what's up with this guy and what his deal is. The fact that he constantly reinvents himself so much, and he continues to change, he’s this weird, unstable character, it makes a lot of sense for him. I think it’s a cool thing to be able to do.
What Makes Jeremiah/Jerome Different From Other Versions Of The Joker?
Whether or not Jerome/Jeremiah is legally distinct from The Joker, Cameron Monaghan feels Gotham has been a unique opportunity to explore the character:

I think that one of my favorite things about being able to touch The Joker mythos at all, with these two versions of these characters, is, generally, with every performance we’ve seen previously, it’s been a one-off. It’s been in a single movie. There’s never been a continued development. There’s never been full arcs of shifting these people over multiple years. I think that’s something unique I’ve gotten the chance to do.

Indeed, both Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger's performances as The Joker were limited in scope to a single film, in which the character was depicted as the diametric opposite of Batman. Not only does Jerome/Jeremiah get to exist across multiple seasons of television (and, indeed, multiple characters), he also gets to exist independent of Batman himself. But what surprises lay in store for the final season of the series? Monaghan teases even more unexpected twists and turns in the completely unpredictable saga of Mr. J:

Throughout the season, especially by the end, man, it goes places. It’s really f****** cool. That’s one of my favorite things, just to be able to develop these guys and have multiple iterations of this character, and being able to come at it from multiple ways.

No matter what, the Jerome/Jeremiah storyline can be counted on to surprise viewers. While certain characters have predetermined destinies (based on eighty years of Batman comics), Mr. J is not bound by canon in the same way. True to the character's essence, Jerome/Jeremiah is an absolute wildcard. Anything can happen with him. There are no rules. In a way, Warner Bros' silly insistence that the character be legally distinct from The Joker is a boon for the series. Whatever happens, audiences will find out when Gotham returns for season 5, "Legend of the Dark Knight," on January 3.

and some more twitter posts:

 

[ironman29758]

and four more interviews:
Gotham Stars David Mazouz, Ben McKenzie Reflect on Their 5-Year Journey With the Dark Knight

It's the end of an era for David Mazouz. Viewers have watched the young man turn into just that, a young man, on Gotham as Bruce Wayne. Now with the series coming to an end, he's reflecting on the five-year journey both in front of and behind the camera.

"It kind of didn't really hit me until probably last year when I really started to think about it. When I think about how much the show has shaped me—I mean…I feel like anybody thinks of their teenager years as their most formative, and I've spent all of my teenage years on Gotham," Mazouz told us.

He was 12 years old when he was auditioning for the part, was 13 as they shot the pilot and has this 18th birthday in a matter of weeks.

"This show, it's taken me away from high school, which, I'm for the most part, very grateful for, and it's shown me a lot. I've learned so much from being on set, but also from Bruce…I know he's not real, but he's very real in my heart and I know in a lot of people's hearts, a lot of Batman fans' hearts, and he's taught me the power of willpower, he has taught me courage, he has taught me friendship and chivalry, honor, responsibility…I'm so grateful for all the people I've been so fortunate enough to grow up with and to work with and to learn from," he said during a recent set visit.
The final season of Gotham, which premieres Thursday, Jan. 3 on Fox, will conclude young Bruce Wayne's journey from orphan to Dark Knight. And Mazouz is taking the time to reflect on all of it. When he returned to New York City to begin production on the final season, he said it was "very sad" and he was overwhelmed with nostalgia. "I am reflecting on it…I'm starting to realize how much it's changed me, and how much I've learned and how fortunate I am to have this under my belt…I've really been started to realize as I've been getting older and more mature, is how lucky I am to on a show with such professionals, our crew is and our cast…everybody is the best at what they do," he said.

But Gotham wasn't just about Bruce becoming Batman, viewers watched as Benjamin McKenzie's Jim Gordon grew into his own. McKenzie said he's been reflecting and looking back on the whole experience frequently. "You can appreciate, which I'm doing on a daily basis, if not hourly basis, all of the relationships that have formed over the five years. It takes hundreds of people to make a big television show like this and you do become a family, not necessarily a psychologically healthy family," he said with a laugh. "Somewhat, but a family. People care about each other."

Click play on the video above to hear more. Gotham returns Thursday, Jan. 3 at 8 p.m. on Fox.

Gotham Star Wants Penguin To Be A Monster By The End Of Season 5

Gotham's Robin Lord Taylor promises that his version of The Penguin will be a ruthless monster by the time the series ends. The assortment of villains who have tormented Batman over the years is incredible. Perhaps no other hero in history has such an impressive gallery of rogues, from The Joker and The Riddler to Catwoman and Mr. Freeze, to relatively recent additions like Hush and Black Mask, Batman's bad guys are arguably more iconic than the hero himself.

Fox's Gotham is fueled by this idea. Set in a city before the emergence of Batman, the series deals with Jim Gordon and the GCPD's futile efforts to combat the over-the-top villains of DC Comics, without the aid of iconic heroes like Batman. Throughout the show's run, one of Gotham's many breakout stars has been Robin Lord Taylor, who plays Oswald Cobblepot, better known as the Penguin.
During a recent visit to the New York City set of the series, we spoke with Robin Lord Taylor about his character's unexpected popularity and how he wants that early audience sympathy to play into Penguin's arc during this, the final 12 episodes in the series. When we asked him about reflecting on Penguin's journey over the course of the series, he shared his gratitude toward the creative team of writers and producers who facilitated his role on the show:

I couldn’t have been asked to play a more dynamic, emotionally rich, intellectually complex character than The Penguin. To see where we all have taken the character, it blows my mind. That’s all I’m feeling right now. I’m so grateful and so proud of the work everybody’s done. It’s been amazing.

Even among the esteemed ranks of Batman villains, The Penguin's fandom, particularly for this incarnation, is palpably strong. We asked the actor about his considerable fandom, why his character is so particularly adored despite his long track record of heinous misdeeds, his face lit up with excitement, surely because of the plans the show has for the character:

It’s so weird! One of the stories that I’ve always tried to tell with this character, and just with the show in general, is that Gotham City is a place that beats people down and either turns them evil or into heroes. It’s a polarizing place. We start Gotham with someone of very low status, and who is just striving and striving. There is something sympathetic with Oswald in the beginning. Something identifiable, and something human inside of him. We see that he makes terrible decisions and does terrible things, but it’s out of necessity to survive. As we go forward in the fifth season, I want to see the culmination of all those years of being in Gotham and making those terrible decisions and watching someone’s humanity get stripped from him. When we end, I don’t want him to be likable. I want him to be a monster. That’s what this city has done to him. That’s what we’re working towards. It’s gonna be really amazing when we get there.

As Taylor explains, his character was able to be developed over the course of many years, from lowly underling to Fish Mooney to ruthless criminal kingpin. In addition to his charismatic performance, this dedication to long-term storytelling is a key factor in the character's success with fans. Audiences have seen The Penguin's rise over the course of the show's lifespan. The apparent goal of season 5 will be to establish The Penguin as an irredeemable villain, a monster with no redeeming qualities who has crossed lines from which he can never return.

Of course, knowing internet fandoms, there are bound to be those who love the actor even more as his character becomes more and more evil. Eager fans won't have to wait long to find out what happens with Penguin.

Gotham Season 5 Proves (Again) Why The City Needs Batman

Gotham season 5 will prove once again why the fictional DC Comics city needs Batman, an extraordinary hero to take on extraordinary villains. Fans of Fox's Gotham have watched actor David Mazouz grow up on their television screens. Mazouz was only 13-years-old when the show first debuted, and now, over four years later, he is a young man. His character, young Bruce Wayne, is preparing to take up the mantle of Batman, the vigilante protector of Gotham who terrorizes the city's criminals with his own brand of justice.

While Gotham is ostensibly about Jim Gordon using conventional methods to fight crime on the streets of a city that scoffs at the notion of conventionality, it's also about Bruce Wayne. Especially in the show's more recent seasons, Gotham has had a strong peripheral focus on showing the Wayne boy transform from a shell-shocked victim into someone with a desire - and an unshakable will - to make a difference and save his city from ruin.
During our visit to the set of the fifth and final season of Gotham, we spoke to David Mazouz, who shared his thoughts on Bruce Wayne's arc and how the show has always been about Batman:

Ultimately, Gotham is Bruce’s origin show. How did Bruce go from an unfortunate rich boy in an alley to becoming Batman? I hope that we’ve shown how somebody has turned their own misery into something that can be a driving force for good, into determination, into perseverance, into extraordinary willpower.

No other adaptation of Batman has spent as much time with a pre-Batman world as Gotham. The city was always understood to be a black hole of violence and despair. Gotham goes to great lengths to show how the status quo of traditional depictions of the Batman mythos depends on a delicate equilibrium, with the city's cavalcade of villains on one side, and Batman on the other, fighting to keep the city from falling into outright collapse. In Gotham, that equilibrium does not exist yet, so the villains are all but unchallenged, save for the valiant, but arguably vain, efforts of Jim Gordon and the few good cops in the city.
Gotham is not an ordinary city, it's a gothic and violent cesspool which chews people up and spits them out, twisted caricatures of who they were before. In season 5, the villains are increasingly close to their over-the-top personas from the comics and various adaptations, a far cry from their comparatively grounded portrayals in season 1. In a way, this applies to Bruce Wayne, as well. As Mazouz explains:

The show's main message is showing why Batman was so necessary. This city was falling apart, mercilessly. The cops weren’t doing their job. Jim Gordon was doing everything he could, he’s the best cop there is; but the problem is, in order to take down the insane, out-of-this-world villains in Gotham, there needs to be something equally insane and equally out-of-this-world. Something traditional just isn’t going to cut it. That’s what this show is saying. Every season ends on a huge loss for the good guys and a huge victory for the bad guys. That's the staple, the trademark of the show. The beginning of every season is dealing with a huge catastrophe that, really, only Batman could prevent.

Taking down run-of-the-mill mobsters is one thing. Even Fish Mooney wasn't completely outside the realm of what regular cops like Jim Gordon could reasonably handle. However, when the villains of Gotham are undead freaks like Solomon Grundy, psychotic monsters like Jerome/Jeremiah, and mad scientists like Hugo Strange, it takes a hero as unconventional as Batman to keep the city from falling into complete madness.

Gotham Season 5 Cast Promises Plenty Of Moments Fans Want To See

The fifth and final season of Fox's Batman prequel, Gotham, promises lots of big moments for fans of Batman's iconic imagery. The twelve-episode season (given a boost from the initial order of ten episodes), subtitled "Legend of the Dark Knight," begins with the city plunged into a familiar scenario for comic book fans; drawing inspiration from the famous comic book arc, No Man's Land, this season sees Gotham cut off from the rest of the world, with the various gang factions having taken over the city.

During our visit to the set of this final batch of episodes, we spoke to the cast of the series about the finality of "Legend of the Dark Knight." This is their final opportunity to make a mark on the Batman mythos; the train is nearing the end of the line. As Donal Logue (Harvey Bullock) remarked with a combination of mischief and melancholy, "The clock is ticking. I can hear it."
Series lead Ben McKenzie has written and directed episodes of Gotham. He's the face of the show, a young Jim Gordon who exists in a broken city, corrupted by villains, which has yet to receive deliverance in the form of Batman, a dark spirit of vengeance who strikes fear into the very heart of evil. However, the time is drawing near when Batman will finally make his presence known, and Gotham has long been sowing the seeds of this inevitable destiny. Of the show's imminent conclusion, McKenzie says:

A lot of the questions that we get asked at Comic Con are, like, “When are you going to do this, when are you going to do that?” Well, right damn now, we’re going to do them, because we don’t have any more time. John Stevens and the writers have created a pretty great template for No Man’s Land, in which all hell breaks loose, but also a plan throughout the ten episodes (later expanded to twelve) to sprinkle in various things the fans want to see in a way that pays off. In a way that doesn’t just feel like lip service.
So many shows are unceremoniously cancelled, with unresolved cliffhangers and bitterly disappointed fandoms. It's nice that Gotham has been given an entire season to wrap up its story, twelve episodes with which to ramp up and conclude the story they started back in 2014. Throughout the series, audiences have seen glimmers of the future, or rather, of the recognized imagery from Batman comics. There have been hints of the relationship between Gordon and Batman, and the show has clearly been building towards this, the final culmination of everything the show has been up to this point.

Robin Lord Taylor, who plays Oswald Cobblepot, The Penguin, sums up the excitement:

"Old grudges between characters are coming to a head, alliances are being made between people that would have never happened before, but are forced out of necessity. We’re in a place, now that Gotham is cut off, where everyone is scrambling. Everyone’s on the razor’s edge. It’s leaning into the heightened drama. It feels like you’re reading a comic book and it’s leaping off the page. No holds barred. It’s exhilarating."

If all goes according to plan, by the time the credits roll on the show's 100th and final episode, audiences will have experienced a truly unique story: a completely new take on the legendary mythology of one of pop culture's most iconic characters, but with plenty of crowd-pleasing moments that any Batman fan would naturally expect to see.

 

[Kane52630]

 

[herolee10]

After watching the season 1 finale for "Titans" (okay, well mainly just the Batman parts), I honestly hope that the producers for Gotham aren't planning on copying what they did when it comes to how they plan on presenting Batman in this show's series finale where we only see shots of him from the back or in the shadows and not an actual full shot of him in true form.

I also hope that we don't get something akin to this either, especially given the producers's comments about the suit being more like the armored version used by Christian Bale...

 

[ZIPBAGS]

I may have missed something...But why is the federal govt not doing anything to regain control of Gotham?

 

[The Shape]

Because the government suckkkks.

 

[Kane52630]

And it's Escape from NY rules.

 

[Morg]

Dammit! How come Demand not airing yesterday Gotham yet?

 

[NotNickFury]

I don't know what it is, because there are other shots that came to mind, but that brief bit of Batman coming through the smoke specifically reminded, mostly from the angle, of the shot in Batman Forever when Bruce came through the fire.

 

[Guts]

I don't know what it is, because there are other shots that came to mind, but that brief bit of Batman coming through the smoke specifically reminded, mostly from the angle, of the shot in Batman Forever when Bruce came through the fire.

Loved that moment from Batman Forever. This is the best scene from that movie in my opinion.

 

[Binker]

I may have missed something...But why is the federal govt not doing anything to regain control of Gotham?

Its like Escape from NY in concept, but its a page from No Man's Land. Unlike Dark Knight Rises or even Zero Year, to the Gov't's POV, Gotham is a lost cause in the comics, and its because of what the city has become, infamously. Because I haven't seen Gotham, only followed certain things, I don't know if this was applied to the show or something else.

 

[Binker]

Cool image:

Also, I found out Gotham could've used the bat signal from the Elseworlds crossover, but CW said no. So does that mean we'll get another version of the signal?
Gotham Producers Wouldn't Allow This Item To Appear In Elseworlds

 

[2kt09]

Also, I found out Gotham could've used the bat signal from the Elseworlds crossover, but CW said no. So does that mean we'll get another version of the signal?
Gotham Producers Wouldn't Allow This Item To Appear In Elseworlds

Other way around. CW asked Gotham for their batsignal, and they said no.

 

[Binker]

Oh wow, I messed that up. Getting over the flu. Sorry.

 

[Guts]

Other way around. CW asked Gotham for their batsignal, and they said no.

Probably because they don't want to reveal what the logo is going to look like until the finale.

 

[KevTravels]

I may have missed something...But why is the federal govt not doing anything to regain control of Gotham?

Because... plot?

They haven't done enough to explain it nor make it obvious to the audience. It's just something we have to accept and go along with.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Arachnerd]

That's from 10-second promo posted a couple pages back.

According to upcoming episodes synopsis, he officially comes back on episode 4.

 

[Pennywise]

That's from 10-second promo posted a couple pages back.

According to upcoming episodes synopsis, he officially comes back on episode 4.

It’ll be glorious when he comes back!

 

[Arachnerd]

'Gotham' star Cameron Monaghan teases wild finale, mysterious third character

Spoiler

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: This has been such a weird character for you. Your character has died, was resurrected, died again and then was replaced by his twin brother. What’s that even like?

CAMERON MONAGHAN: It’s a very strange and surreal thing but on a show that’s as strange and absurd and heightened as Gotham, it makes sense. It’s a weird challenge. It’s definitely not what I expected going into it, to develop one character for as long as I did and be like, all right, time for a new thing that’s also distinct. And then I’ve had to do that again recently in the final season as well — I won’t say how or why but there’s another huge transition for the character too. It’s definitely an extremely unique challenge that’s unique to the comic book medium.

So obviously you weren’t told this was the plan when you started on the show, that you’d have this intermittent involvement and radical dual characters…

No man, I didn’t even think I was going to come back for a second season. Every time I came back I was told I was going to be killed off at the end of that arc. I was preparing for every other episode to be my last and I’m really glad I was able to come back and do more. It’s a joy to play characters so heightened and insane as these are. But I definitely didn’t have any concept of where the story was going.

So how would you describe Jeremiah at this point in the story vs. Jerome?

I would say the transformation is not fully complete yet. Jeremiah at this juncture is much more methodical and obsessive. Jerome was more of a throw everything at the wall and see what sticks kind of dude. I find Jeremiah is very exacting and precise. He doesn’t believe he’s insane. He thinks his behavior is a natural response to the order and he has a very distinct plan to convince the one person that he really cares about to get onto his side and see his worldview and that’s Bruce. Every action he takes is trying to bring Bruce to his side. Whereas Jerome was more of a generalized chaos kind of person.

Which is more fun to play?

They’re both a complete joy. I’ve had a lot of fun with Jeremiah in season 5. Because Jeremiah and Jerome were on screen at the same time in season 4, I had to take make them extremely distinct. So I had to take the extreme of Jeremiah of making him much more stoic. Now with Jerome out of the picture I get to make Jeremiah much more heightened in his own unique way. He’s eccentric as like a David Bowie type. He’s foppish a little bit. I took a lot of inspiration from Tim Curry in Rocky Horror Picture Show. He’s this eccentric, flamboyant, arrogant character. But the character I most enjoyed playing is the one in the final episode that we haven’t seen yet.

What’s been the weirdest or toughest scene for you to shoot?

I guess one of the toughest would have to be in season 4 we had this setup where Jerome takes a concert hostage. The only way to do this scene was to do one long 20-minute take with all the extras there. And even though it was broken up in the actual episode, and we’re cutting back and forth, the only way to keep the continuity was to do it as one long take. So it was like doing a short play and required a lot of communication and precision. The final product turned out pretty decent but it was a hard thing to do.

Our critic noted that you have played two of the best Jokers ever. But you’re still not allowed to actually call him The Joker because of specific corporate legal issues in terms of the show vs the films, is that accurate to assume at this point?

For now. That was the case when I talked about it prior. I will say we’ve been given certain liberties in this final season that we haven’t been given before that’s going to make itself pretty apparent as you watch it. All I’ll say is when you have an episode that’s a full-on Batman episode running around in the future, you’re going to have characters that you’ll expect to see. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say at this point that it’s 10 years in the future — that’s been talked about openly by the producers and showrunners — I don’t want to say exactly what my role in that is, but it was kick ass. It’s one of the coolest opportunities I’ve ever had.

As an actor that must have been frustrating for a while though. Because I would think you’d just want to say: “Yeah I’m playing The Joker — it’s Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, Joaquin Phoenix, and me.” Wasn’t that kind of frustrating?

Well, yeah, but you know … the idea for me was always that one of these guys could become him, it’s not necessarily that they are him, it’s not necessarily that they’re not. It looks like that one of these guys are going to become him. As a fan of the medium, I always asked myself, does it make sense that he’d be calling himself by a pseudonym yet because he doesn’t have a reason to call himself a pseudonym. He wouldn’t have a reason to operate under an alter ego, that concept hasn’t been popularized and understood yet. So even if he’s behaving in this manner and cutting his teeth and learning how to behave chaotically and sadistically, he wouldn’t necessarily have that brand on him. I think we now have an arc to how we get to that point, and a lot it has to do with this obsession with Bruce and his vanity. I think a lot of this final season is really satisfying in getting to that point and having five years fo build-up will help push that payoff through.

Is Jeremiah somehow redeemable in a way Jerome wasn’t?

It’s hard to tell. I’m not sure if Jerome was necessarily irredeemable either. He’s the victim of terrible circumstances. Even if he was bad from the second he was born, maybe he’s the victim of his genetics or hormones or whatever it is going on. That said, obviously, Jeremiah had a more level head and it is unclear if there’s a good person somewhere deep down in there. The problem with him is he doesn’t see himself as bad or evil or insane so there’s no ability to redeem somebody who doesn’t want to be redeemed.

Is there any chance of seeing Jerome again, somehow?

The spirit of Jerome lives inside of Jeremiah. I think Jeremiah is at war with a lot of different parts of himself, and one of the parts of himself is Jerome. We’re seeing this confluence of ideologies within Jeremiah creating this new thing. I can’t say where that leads but even though Jerome is physically dead we’re running with this idea that there’s this virus, this cult of personality in Gotham and that’s building up within Jeremiah.

One final Gotham question: They’re not secretly triplets, are they?

Not triplets! No secret other twin. we’re seeing a very linear story arc with Jeremiah. Our point A is where we left off last season and our point B is a huge jump and I can’t wait for people to see it.

 

[ironman29758]

From the Great White Way to the Dark Knight: The story of Gotham's costumes
(slightspoilers)

For Gotham's fifth and final season, there were creative alterations made to the costumes overall that informed the style of the show, each with specific purpose. "Because they are at war, we got rid of all jewelry," explains Glaser. "It's being melted down to make bullets. Without any jewelry, it kind of changes the look of the show. There are no earrings, there are no necklaces. We didn't want a lot of extraneous costume stuff, just what was really interesting in front of you."

Probably what most separates Gotham from Arrowverse shows or the Marvel Cinematic Universe is how the wardrobe team treats the supervillain costumes and suits. Those, too, get the Broadway treatment. Not at first, though. First, suits for characters like Firefly and Mister Freeze are crafted in Los Angeles. "It's like buying a car," according to Glaser. "They know the body's measured, they make an extra layer of the body for them to give them the right shape, they have the right fabrics, they have the right sculptors, the right fabricators."

But Glaser wasn't a fan of the exactness of these initial designs. "What I didn't like about that was that it looked like a movie costume. We actually took Firefly's costume and Mr. Freeze's costume, after they first wore them, and we started to paint them and age them, just because they didn't look like they were from Gotham. They looked like they were from a different world. We took them back, kept painting them and aging them, putting things on them and making them look more like they were from the city of Gotham."

Sometimes the newness of a costume could even be a problem, especially in Gotham's final season, where everyone is living even more rough than usual. "On Ivy's costume," Glaser uses as an example, "the top of it is flesh and it goes into fabric around her breast and we couldn't figure out how to make that transition without it looking like a skating costume."

So how do you solve that problem beyond paint and tape? "We took it to Izquierdo Studios and I was explaining to Martin Izquierdo what the problem was. He said, 'Alright, just go away for an hour.' We went away for an hour, and then when we came back he had cut, hacked, aged, and torn it, and it looked perfect. It was a dress that melted into her body — so it went from flesh, to fabric, back to skin and flesh, so you couldn't pinpoint whether it was a dress, whether it was her skin, or whether it was vines growing on her. It was vague, misty, and painted with lots of sparkle, so you could never pinpoint what it was. That was a very successful costume."

Beyond the desire to make Gotham feel like New York through the lens of a Broadway show, there was one other consistent challenge: working within the confines of the DC Universe. All live-action TV series that exist within the worlds of DC Comics have to accept that they are second banana in the DC hierarchy. The creators of Arrow had to scrub their Suicide Squad plotline when the film of the same name starring Margot Robbie and Will Smith was greenlit, for example. And so, too, Gotham had to contend with these challenges from a stylistic standpoint.

"There's a thing that Josh and I used to say," admits Glaser. "'If you can't tell what it is, then it's great.' If you can't know where it came from or if you can't pinpoint it, then there was never a problem."

Probably the most infamous struggle Gotham faced in the Batman canon relates to the Joker, in that Gotham simply could not have a character named "the Joker." That is why the twins, Jeremiah and Jerome, were created. And, even then, there was some conflict. "We sent a sketch and he [Jeremiah] had some purple in his suit," Glaser explains. "Warner Bros. said, 'No, you can't use purple.' The producers from Gotham talked with them and they let it pass. I think that was an area or a time when they started to loosen up a little bit, with us. We never got too close to the iconic look of anybody. We always danced around it."

One character from whom there was, surprisingly, no pushback at all was

Spoiler

Harley Quinn. "The diamond shapes are painted on so that they kind of fade in and out, kind of ghost-like," reveals Glaser of the initial Harley design. "Every time that we saw her it would get a little more refined. When it started out it was like a dull red and a dull blue. By the time we finished, this is on different clothing, but, still, again, painting, it had become red and white, but because of what she does, we made it look like red blood and white."

You may also have heard that Gotham's final season involves a time jump allowing its audience to see something they've wanted since day one: Batman. And while it's too early yet to reveal everything about the first time we see actor David Mazouz in full Bat-regalia, Glaser did reveal one aspect to the costume that was mandated:

Spoiler

"They insisted that the Batman logo be on the belt."