We spoke with Gotham cast and creators at San Diego Comic-Con who had plenty to say about the direction of season 2.
Sean Pertwee (Alfred) kicked off our roundtables with a great tidbit, saying, “They start to develop the alter ego, the other character,” speaking of Bruce becoming Batman. This is happening in season 2 because “the city is going to hell.”
Executive Producers Bruno Heller and Danny Cannon also joined us, saying the subtitle of this season will be “Rise of the villains.” Heller says, “It’s very much about the transition from old school mafia-type villainy to the grandiose, grotesque, Gothic villainy that Gotham is slowly moving towards. The crimes are grander, the villains are more large scale and theatrical. Monsters start to come out of the woodwork.”
The EPs also teased origin stories for villains like Mr. Freeze, Calendar Man and Tigress.
Of course, a rise of villains also means Bruce will be changing in reaction to that. “Finding that room, that very last scene at the season finale, is going to be a turning point,” David Mazouz says. “It’s going to change everything in Bruce’s life. It’s going to turn the page to a different chapter in every aspect of his life, into becoming Batman.”
“Season 2 is really going to be the transformation of Bruce Wayne to Batman,” Mazouz says, adamantly adding, “[In] season 2, Bruce is going to be Batman.” But don’t expect Bruce to be practicing his Batman voice any time soon — “My voice still has to go a little deeper before that one happens,” Mazouz says, laughing.
Barbara and Gordon are clearly an item in the comics, but at the end of Gotham season 1, it almost feels like their relationship could be over for good. So, knowing how they end in the comics, how do they approach their relationship in the show? “You have to try and be true to that, but come up with twists on stuff,” Heller says. “If you just tell people what they already know about those people and events — there’s a certain fun to that — but we’re always trying to find a different angle in.
“If those were your parents, we’re going to tell the secrets your parents don’t tell you until you open the drawer after they’re dead and discover, ‘Oh my God!’ It’s that kind of stuff that we’ll be revealing about those relationships.”
Speaking of Barbara, how is she going to continue to develop in this series? “She does not redeem herself,” Erin Richards says of season 2. “She just goes even more into the darkness. It’s not going to be an easy path, but it’s going to be a really fun one. She’s like a tiger that’s been let out of the cage at the beginning of this season. It’s been great to play.”
Richards even calls her an emerging villain, saying, “We’re showing the dark and the light of Gotham,” speaking of a large of array of characters in addition to Barbara.
On Gordon and Barbara’s relationship, Richards says, “They have something. There’s something really dark in Jim. He’s going to see that in her, and you know when two people get together and there’s something from their past, and that’s kind of similar in real life, you have that with someone. You always kind of mesh with those people. It brings out something in them that you have in yourself. I think that’s what’s happening with those two. They might not be right [for each other] right now, but they’re drawn to each other, like magnets, really.”
Ben McKenzie agrees, saying his character will be toeing the line this season. “You’ll see a deal with Mr. Cobblepot that has extremely negative consequences. Jim has learned that he has to do what he has to do to get things done. It’s a real change for him to throw morality to the side — still serving the greater good, in his mind, but doing whatever he has to do. It’s a little sad, actually, to watch that go away, but that is the direction we’re going in.”
And you can definitely expect this change in Jim to have repercussions in his relationship with Leslie.