2019-01-01_SciFiNow

The Dark

Knight’s End

w w w.sci fi n ow.co.u k

We discuss Gotham Season Five and the show’s

ending with Penguin actor Robin Lord Taylor

The Dark

Knight’s End

WORDS AbigAil ChAndler

026 |

Few shows manage to encapsulate
both the pulpy ridiculousness of comic books
as well as their darker elements, but for
five years Gotham has perched on the fence
between The Flash and Daredevil. But, sadly,
it is coming to an end. “I can’t believe it’s
over! It’s so weird!” wails Robin Lord Taylor,
who plays Penguin, when we catch up with
him in his final weeks of filming the show.
But he and the rest of the cast are relieved
to have one final season, because it nearly
didn’t happen: “We had no idea that it was
going to come down to the wire the way that
it did,” Taylor says. “So there was that one
day where we were all collectively panicking
and being like ‘oh, this could be the end,
and we never really got to say goodbye’.
Thankfully they made the right decision and
brought us back to finish up the story.”
Which is a relief because Season Four
ended on one massive cliffhanger, not to
mention a dozen little ones. The bridges in
and out of Gotham were blown up, courtesy
of Jeremiah, the latest definitely-not-Joker,
leaving the whole city completely cut off.
The finale also saw Ed Nygma and Lee
Thompkins kill each other, only to end up on
Hugo Strange’s operating table, Selina Kyle
was left potentially paralysed after being
shot, and Bruce Wayne and Jim Gordon are
two of the only people left in Gotham to
protect it from the bad guys – which includes
the weirdly loveable Penguin.
According to Taylor we’re going to see
Penguin “at his most powerful” at the start
of Season Five. “As you can imagine there is
this enormous power vacuum [in Gotham]
and the thing about Oswald, being the
opportunist that he is, this is an opportunity
for him to grab as much power as he can. So
he puts himself into City Hall. He goes right
to the top, and then he also manages to take
over all of the ammunition factories in the
city. So he not only controls City Hall, but
he also controls all the ammunition, so if
there’s anyone who would come and usurp
him, they’d have to go through him to get

34.Gotham

Season Five

Showrunner

John stephens

Cast

Ben Mckenzie, David Mazouz,

Robin Lord Taylor, sean Pertwee,

camren Bicondova

Release date

2019

the bullets to do so. So he’s in a very good

place when we start off Season Five. In a way

it’s his time to rebuild the power structure

of Gotham in his image and he takes full

advantage of it from the get-go.”

Despite being one of the main protagonists

of Gotham, the Season Four finale reminded

viewers that Penguin is a cold, hard killer

when he murdered Butch, and he’s not

getting any nicer in Season Five. “He’s

ruthless and as soon as we come back this

season, he does some of the most violent,

cold acts that he’s done in the entire series,

which if you’ve watched the show you’ll

know that says quite a bit,” Taylor laughs.

But Penguin isn’t the show’s only villain

and on top of the likes of Riddler and Barbara

Kean, Gotham is now adding Bane to the

cast, played by Shane West. But this Bane

is a departure from The Dark Knight Rises

version of the character. This time Bane is

Eduardo Dorrance, “who is an army friend

of Jim Gordon,” Taylor explains. “When

Bane comes in he and Jim Gordon have this

long term connection and it comes between

Oswald’s trust with Jim, so immediately

Oswald has to dance around Eduardo.”

That connection between Penguin and

Jim Gordon will be one of the main themes

of Gotham Season Five. “That familiar

relationship is going to be tested and shaken

up in a different and compelling way,” Taylor

says, as will Penguin’s relationship with

best friend-turned-unrequited crush-turned-

enemy-turned maybe friend again Ed Nygma.

“[N]ow that we’re bringing them to a sense

of closure it’s exciting. One of the things I’m

most proud of in the series is the connection

my character has with Jim Gordon and

Edward Nygma. So we’ll see that being

addressed in very significant ways this year.”

When we spoke to Taylor he was in the

midst of filming the show’s finale, but still

had two more episodes to film after that as

the show was given an extra two episodes

late in the day. “So it’s kind of backwards

and all over the place, but hey, it’s Gotham,”

Taylor laughs. The finale will feature a

significant time jump, allowing all the

characters to finally come in line with their

comic book counterparts. Which, in the

case of Penguin, means “not just emotional

changes to the character but physical

changes as well”. Yep, we’re getting fat-suit

Penguin. “[T]he city itself has not only

emotionally damaged Oswald and turned

him into a monster, it’s also damaged his

body so much so that his grotesqueness

reflects the grotesqueness that’s inside his

heart. I think it’s visually stunning and also

just incredibly fun to play.”

And speaking of fun to play, when we ask

Taylor if he’s happy with his final scene, he

can’t disguise his joy, gleefully telling us that

it “involves a certain man dressed in a long

black cape... I wasn’t expecting that and just

the fact that my character has any sort of

interaction with the man in black, I feel so

honoured and lucky to be there on that day.”

So we know we’re getting Batman by

the finale. We know we’re getting classic

Penguin. But as Taylor himself says – this

is Gotham. The one thing you can reliably

expect is that it’s going to be a heck of a lot

madder than you expect.

Gotham Season Five will show on E4 in 2019.

Bruce will finally become the hero Gotham needs

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