"Gotham" Showrunner Bruno Heller has confirmed the appearance of Joker in FOX's "Batman" prequel.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Heller answered questions regarding the show, including which infamous "Batman" characters will be introduced in the first season.
"Obviously, the Penguin, Riddler, young Catwoman, Alfred. Possibly Harvey Dent. Poison Ivy. Um ... and then there will be others, but I hate to - I'm so used to doing a police procedural, so I'm used to telling, 'Next week he's going to go there.' With this, it's very much storytelling," Heller explained to EW.
"So I would be remiss to tell you who will show up when," he added. "I will say we're not going to skimp on giving people the characters they want and expect from Gotham. But when and how they're going to show up is half the fun. Penguin is one of those guys that, as soon as you see him, you go, 'Oh, that's the Penguin.' It would be hard to disguise him as somebody else."
Heller also explained the characters will be introduced subtly because most of the villains in the series haven't realized what they will become. The "stealth introduction" will also apply the infamous of all DC villains, The Joker.
"He's the crown jewel of the Batman villains. He will be brought in with great care and a lot of thought," the showrunner told EW.
Heller admitted there were limitations associated with the storyline for the prequel. However, it doesn't mean there aren't interesting stories waiting to be told in "Gotham."
"There's precursors to that for the villains and the heroes," Heller told EW. "They got inspiration from other people, and it's about how they got to that point in the world. It's invigorating and expansive how many stories you can tell once you get away from the gravity of Batman. What happens with superheroes is they suck all the air out of the room."
"You can't play a scene between two people when there's a guy in a cape and a mask in the corner of the room," he added. "As far as the history goes, people don't know the ins and outs of it. Even in the well-known stories, there are secrets and backstories that people are not aware of. We also have the pre-iconic villains, like Fish Mooney, played by Jada Pinkett Smith, and those characters that people won't have seen before."
"Gotham" will premiere on FOX this fall.
