It appears that the dynamic duo will have a presence on the new Fox TV series Gotham, in spite of the fact that the Bruce Wayne in the series now is clearly a "tween," which means that Robin hasn’t been born yet. Gotham, which serves as a sort of "prequel" to the entire Batman saga, introduced a load of key "Batverse" characters including Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy (who was seen in the pilot and will be back soon) right away along with Jim Gordon, and now Harvey Dent, but it appears that the pace of character introduction will slow as the series hits its stride. For example, Gotham Executive Producer Bruno Heller has dismissed rumors that Harley Quinn will appear in Season One.
However, Heller told Entertainment Weekly, that the Boy Wonder will have a presence of sorts in Season One since "There’s an episode coming up where we learn how Robin’s parents got together." So there will be a pre-natal origin story for Robin, though he probably won’t make his TV debut as an ultrasound image. Will Robin’s parents be circus folk as in the original Batman saga? We may only have to wait a few weeks to find out how the TV show will handle Robin’s backstory.
Heller also indicated that another colorful Bat-villain will make a bow this season, a youthful version of Scarecrow. As Heller told EW, "This is not a kid being a loony Scarecrow; this is a couple episodes about how that character has evolved--everyone’s character is formed in their childhood to some degree or another. His father is involved, as is part of the [character's] mythology."
Batman’s chief antagonist, The Joker, will also eventually make his appearance on Gotham, though Heller told EW that the Gotham writers plan to tease the audience with several potential characters, who just might become The Joker, and let the viewers see if they can guess which character will be putting on the clown makeup.
Now that Gotham is firmly established (see "Fox Opts for a Full Season of 'Gotham'"), the show’s producers can take their time with new character introductions as Heller explained: "We front-loaded [the show with iconic characters], which we had to do, both for story purposes and marketing purposes. We had to let people know it’'s not just a hum-drum police procedural, it’s about these larger than life characters. If you do that you can’t just say, 'Here's one larger-than-life character, now wait for next season.’ Once we introduced those initial characters--Penguin, Riddler, Ivy, Selina--then we’ve slowed down with those aspects and we’re bringing in those iconic D.C characters in a much more measured way, which was always the intention. You have to have that amount of spice in the show to make it pop and different. Once the wheels are turning, it’s much easier to bring those characters in in subtle, organic ways. That's the plan, anyway."
Who Will Become The Joker?
Posted by ICv2 on November 19, 2014 @ 11:36 am CT