We're just days away from the start of the fall television series in which both new and returning shows are sure to capture our interest over the next several months. One of those shows is Fox's "Gotham," which promises to showcase the iconic fictional city's many eccentric villains in season two.
But although Gotham will feature fresh new faces like Tigress, Theo, Clayface and the Mad Hatter, it is Oswald Cobblepot aka Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) that is still everyone's favorite foe. Taylor was arguably the breakout star of season one and fans are eager to see what becomes of him after his fatal standoff with Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith) in last season's finale.
Taylor revealed during Comic-Con International that Penguin will be making a series of important power plays to add to his embryonic empire this year.
"More power," Taylor said of Penguin's quest in season two. "It's insatiable with him. I learned when I went back to the comics, he was bullied as a kid for the way he looked and his interests and got the crap beat out of him every day, was treated like garbage, and basically counted out his entire life. So that need for power, that need is deeply, deeply rooted in his psyche."
Penguin's rise in the criminal underworld is directly tied to Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie), who shares a give-and-take relationship with the ambitious young Cobblepot. However, that relationship quickly dissolved as the morally incorruptible Gordon refused to further Penguin's agenda.
"In the first season, the only two people that Oswald really trusted were his mother and, at the time, Jim Gordon. That's changed. After all [Penguin] has done for Jim, and Jim is going to let him die in the hospital chained to a radiator and completely sells him out. Their friendship, as far as I'm concerned, is donzo. They still need each other, but in terms of that, I truly believe that Oswald wanted to be Jim's friend and wanted to connect with him. That's all different now."
Now that Oswald is in prime position, it's inevitable before up-and-comers to emerge to challenge him for his throne. Season two will explore Penguin's attempts to keep control following the introduction of the Galavan siblings.
"They serve as a threat to everbody. They are coming in this season...it's a challenge that every single one of us will have to face, because they shake it up. So yeah, we're all going to have to deal with them in some way.
"He knows as well as anybody that once you become big cheese in Gotham City, you have a giant target on your back. There's someone there who wants to bring you back down. So he knows that he just has to maintain control and hold onto it. We'll see how successful he is."
"Gotham" season two will premiere on Monday, Sept. 21.
