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GOTHAM Season One Will Feature Hugo Strange, “Older” Harvey Dent And The Rise Of Arkham

Speaking with IGN at TCA 2014, Gotham showrunner Bruno Heller has dropped more exciting tidbits for the Batman prequel’s first season. He reveals that Hugo Strange will be present, as he is a key figure in the creation of Arkham Asylum. The rise of the infamous institution will apparently play a big role in this season. Heller states, “Hugo Strange is going to pop up because we’re going to start dealing with how Arkham was created and why Arkham was created in the way that it was so, yeah, absolutely. It’s a Season One thing because in our telling of it the way Arkham was created and the why and how is one of the causes of the particular criminal climate in Gotham that allowed Batman to happen. The revolving door of Arkham is both a brilliant narrative device because it allows you to — you don’t have to kill people off, you can just put them in cold storage — but if you’re telling the story from the start you kind of have to explain, ‘What the [bleep]? Why don’t you make that place a place people don’t escape from?’ We’re going to explain why it is the way it is and Hugo Strange is a big part of that.” Gotham marks the live action debut of Strange, who for some time was rumored to be in 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises.

Heller also confirms that we will be seeing Harvey Dent in the series, but his age will be closer to that of Jim Gordon than Bruce Wayne. “We’re playing Harvey Dent slightly older. He’s more Gordon’s age in this telling. One of the things to avoid in order not to tell a high school story — which would be great, but it”s a different show on a different network at a different time that I would not be a part of. But he will go back to school and villains will be part of that world.” Dent has been heavily featured in past live action Batman incarnations. He was played by Billy Dee Williams in 1989’s Batman, while Tommy Lee Jones took over as Two-Face in Batman Forever. Aaron Eckhart then played the character in The Dark Knight, and is inarguably the most memorable version to date.

Finally, Heller is asked about potentially bringing in Ra’s al Ghul and the League of Assassins. The Demon’s Head has been referenced several times on The CW’s Arrow, with his daughter Nyssa and other League members being featured. Would this keep Gotham from possibly bringing in this part of Batman’s mythology? “That’s a good meta-physical, trans-network question. I don’t think it would preclude anything, but I think it would be tough to do cross-overs because the worlds are so different. Like I said, there’s so many rich, great characters that we can’t get them all in there.” Which other characters do you wish to see on Gotham?

Gotham premieres Monday, September 22nd on Fox.

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of WOBAM! Entertainment.