We first met J.K. Simmons' version of Commissioner Jim Gordon in 2017's Justice League. The DC Extended Universe was in a state of flux at the time, and when the plug was pulled on Ben Affleck's The Batman, it seemed like that might be it for this iteration of the character. We saw a little more of him in Zack Snyder's Justice League, of course, but certainly not enough to satisfy fans.
Happy Sad Confused's Josh Horowitz recently caught up with Simmons to ask about original plans for Gordon. "When I first signed up to do Justice League, it was a three-picture deal," the actor confirmed. "The intent was, at that time, that those actors were going to keep playing those iconic superheroes and there would be something for me to do in a couple more movies. As is often the case, that didn't come to fruition for a variety of reasons."
Of course, he's not quite done with the GCPD Commissioner, because Simmons will reprise the role in the upcoming Batgirl movie heading to HBO Max.
"I was completely flabbergasted they came back to me recently and wanted me to be Commissioner Gordon again and have it be a more significant role. I'm looking forward to it. I think I'm going to get on the horn to [Leslie Grace] and the directors in the next couple of days and do little preliminary rehearsals," he teased. "They start very soon and I jump on board sometime in January in Glasgow which is a wonderful place to shoot it as it's Gothic."
"I'm excited to be the once and future Jim Gordon," Simmons continued. "I had a long discussion with the guys about how we want to portray him. It's a really interesting take on introducing Batgirl and fleshing Jim Gordon out." The actor later went on to say he has no doubt there's room for both his Gordon and Jeffrey Wright's on screen thanks to the Multiverse's introduction.
Needless to say, it's certainly exciting to think about what the future holds for this Gordon beyond Batgirl. Should this become a franchise on the streamer, we're bound to see more of Simmons' take even if he won't be spending time with the Dark Knight himself once Affleck bids farewell to the role.
Check out the full interview here or watch an excerpt courtesy of Horowitz below: