‘Gotham’ Cast Teases Season 2 Power Struggles & Rise Of Villains

After a bloody Season 1 finale, “Gotham” fans were left wondering where the show would pick up when it returns in the fall.

Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith) fell to her death (most likely), Barbara Kean (Erin Richards) spun out of control in a violent downward spiral, and Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) schemed and stabbed his way to the top of the Gotham crime world.

(Fox)

Access Hollywood caught up with the cast of the Fox show at San Diego Comic-Con, where the stars hinted at what fans can expect to see when the show’s second season kicks off in a few months.

Here’s what they had to say:

Ben McKenzie (James Gordon): “[The power structure] will all change quickly… Jim is wondering how much he really wants this task, this monstrous task he’s undertaken of having to clean up the city. It seems impossible at this point… We have some really good villains coming up. Mr. Freeze will be in Season 2. Flamingo will be in Season 2. Firefly… Honestly, it’s jam-packed with villains from the mythology and we’re really leaning in that direction and going towards serialization and not procedural crime-of-the-week stuff, which I think the fans will really appreciate.”

Sean Pertwee (Alfred Pennyworth): “The sort of sub-heading for Season 2 is going to ‘Rise of the Villains’… The city burns. It gets to a very dark, dangerous place. But it has to burn, because out of the ashes rises, phoenix-like, the man who dons the cowl who we all know and love, Batman. You’ll see the city collapse, you’ll see a lot more cohesion and activity from Bruce and the guidance of Alfred – you’ll see a lot more of that. The scripts are shorter but the content’s bigger. The fans understand where we’re at now, and they trust us, I hope… You’ll start to see an amalgamation of some of the good guys, the good elements. We’ll have an inside man at Wayne Enterprises [Lucius Fox]. You’ll start to see the good guys rise as well, as the city collapses. The first three [episodes] are so good – I’m not even lying when I say they’re awesome. They should be standalone movies. The third one especially.”

Cory Michael Smith (Edward Nygma/The Riddler): “We’re three weeks in, we’re filming episode 2 right now. I’ve read up through episode 4 and I know what’s happening at least through 9. It’s some really good sh*t, especially for my character. It’s really good… I can’t [tell you exactly what], but I guess I can say you’re going to spend time with two Eds. So it’s been fun for me to film that.”

Erin Richards (Barbara Kean): “Barbara goes into Arkham, which is an exciting turn for me. And she’s gonna meet loads of villains there – Jerome, who may or may not be the Joker, is there. She’s going to be sort of transformed by these people into who she becomes then for the rest of the series… Everybody wants redemption for Barbara and I’m like, it’s so much more fun that she’s going a bit crazy! She’s a woman on a mission now. She has been wronged, in her eyes, by Jim and Leslie Thompkins, so she’s sort of out for revenge and battling what a lot of the characters are going to be battling this year, which is the light and dark. So, she’s got a lot of dark coming out.”

Robin Lord Taylor (Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin): [Penguin] is intelligent, he’s gotten to this point. He knows there’s always someone who wants to take you down once you reach that point, and he knows the fall is steep and slippery. So he’s ready. He’s prepared to hold on to [power]. How successful he is remains to be seen, so… tune in!”

Morena Baccarin (Dr. Leslie Thompkins): “I think this season’s gonna be a little darker, a little grittier, a little more intense… we’re about three weeks in. I think things are going great – I love the scripts that I’ve seen.”

“Gotham” Season 2 will premiere on Fox in the fall.

Erin O’Sullivan

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