So Was That 'The Joker' In Next Week's GOTHAM Promo? Bruno Heller Weighs In
At the very end of the promo for "The Blind Fortune Teller", we got a glimpse of actor Cameron Monaghan as a fairly disturbed looking young man with a very distinctive laugh. Fox was definitely teasing him as The Joker, but was he? Find out what showrunner Bruno Heller has to say about it...
We knew The Joker was going to show up on Gotham at some point, but we thought next week's episode was all about Robin's acrobat parents... until we saw that promo at the end of "The Scarecrow" this past Monday. Was that pale kid laughing hysterically while being interrogated by Jim Gordon really the future Clown Prince of Crime? Well, according to Bruno Heller, "not necessarily". The showrunner promises that "it's not a bait-and-switch or red herring" however, adding: "That character is the true beginning of the Joker saga — the first page of the first chapter of the story that brings the villain known as Joker to life." Interesting. If he doesn't turn out to be The Joker, it's possible this Jerome fella was simply hit with a dose of his trademark laughing gas, heralding the villain's arrival in Gotham further down the line.
In a separate interview with THR, Heller talks about the iconic nemesis of Batman, and hints that we may not actually see him in all his glory until Bruce dons the cape and cowl. "In the pantheon of villains, he's the dark king of this world, so it would be cheating the audience if we didn't get into that," he explains to the site. "On the other hand, as those who are deep into the mythology know, the actual Joker - the full-on villain himself - does not appear until after Batman appears. That's both a narrative opportunity and a narrative problem at the same time." Do you think Jerome will wind up being Joker? If not, how is he tied to the character's eventual debut? Sound off with your ideas below.