Who’s ready for some new Gotham footage?
When the Fox DC Comics drama took New York Comic-Con by storm this weekend, the cast didn’t show up empty-handed to the packed panel that featured series stars Ben McKenzie, Robin Lord Taylor, Cory Michael Smith and Erin Richards, with new cast members Michael Chiklis, James Frain and Jessica Lucas, and executive producer John Stephens. They also brought an exclusive sizzle reel with all-new footage from tonight’s episode, including Chiklis’ big debut!
Chiklis plays Captain Nathaniel Barnes, aka the GCPD’s new boss, and he’s not too happy with how Gotham’s finest have been behaving. He’s sick and tired of all the corruption and law-breaking going on within the ranks of the GCPD, and the Maniax massacre — when Jerome led his fellow psychotic Arkham Asylum escapees right into the heart of the GCPD headquarters, killing Commissioner Essen and nine police officers — was the last straw. Barnes’ arrival is going to kick off a new era for the good guys in the city of Gotham to combat the “Rise of the Villains.”
Watch Captain Barnes’ arrival, as well as action-packed teasers from tonight’s episode, in the New York Comic-Con sizzle reel above now.
When Nerdist spoke with Chiklis about his addition to Gotham, he revealed that while Captain Barnes might butt heads with Jim Gordon, he’s really there to bring Gordon back from the dark side.
“My character really views Jim as the hope and potential for future leadership of this police department. He sees him sliding into that grey area, that slippery slope of ‘the ends justify the means’ policing,” Chiklis says. “He’s starting to see Jim’s frustration and how he’s breaking the law in order to enforce it. He’s adamantly against that because of his own personal backstory and he sees that as the road to hell. He’s trying to pull the kid back to the straight and narrow, back from the edge. He’s an ally and a mentor and a friend, but he’s also butting heads with him pretty consistently. That’s going to be our dynamic over the course of this season. That is going to come to a head, and it’s been pretty explosive so far for sure.”
And Chiklis says that Barnes is going to be the right man for the job in helping Gordon get back to the light as well as helping the GCPD fight this growing war with the criminals and villains of Gotham.
“This guy is fearless. He’s an animal,” Chiklis says. “He’s a strong guy and that’s why he’s coming into this situation, to combat what he sees as a war, and he insists on fighting the war within the confines of the rule of the law. He thinks the only thing that separates us from the animals are the rules of law. It may seem difficult to do it, but he knows they can do it. That’s the way it has to happen and that’s actually where he and Gordon will butt heads.”
—
Images: Fox
Gotham airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on Fox.
