Although Cameron Monaghan has never been a part of Gotham‘s principal cast, many would likely argue – and I would agree with them – that Jerome Valeska has easily emerged as the finest villain the series has thus far produced, thanks to sharp writing and the young actor’s incredible performances. Now, that’s not meant to be a knock against Robin Lord Taylor’s Penguin or Cory Michael Smith’s Riddler, but it’s just a testament to how well Monaghan has brought this proto-Joker to life.
When we last saw Jerome, he’d paid homage to Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman: Death of the Family by wearing a dead skin mask with such style. But after he’d had all his fun in an amusement park straight out of The Killing Joke, James Gordon succeeded in apprehending the young knave – and punching off his face in the process.
Afterward, it was said Jerome was having his face surgically reattached, and would then be returned to Arkham Asylum. And considering that he’s still among the living, logic dictates that he’ll be showing up before long, at least for one episode.
Now, we did receive photographic evidence not long ago suggesting the would be Clown Prince of Crime’s return is imminent, but nothing of when that’d be. Thankfully, we can now confirm that’ll come on December 7 in “A Dark Knight: Queen Takes Knight,” which’ll also serve as the fall finale.
Set to include a guest cast consisting of Michael Cerveris as Professor Pyg, Cameron Monaghan as Jerome, John Doman as Carmine Falcone and Anthony Carrigan as Zsasz, the official synopsis can be found below:
Things get complicated for Gordon, Sophia and Penguin when Carmine Falcone (guest star John Doman) comes to town. Alfred tries to get through to Bruce once and for all, while Nygma struggles to gain control over The Riddler persona and Tabitha attempts to make Grundy remember his past. Meanwhile, a familiar smile resurfaces in Gotham in the all-new “A Dark Knight: Queen Takes Knight” fall finale episode of GOTHAM airing Thursday, Dec. 7 (8:00-9:01 PM ET/PT) on FOX.
After taking in all that information, we can certainly tell that a lot will be going on. That said, it wouldn’t surprise us in the slightest if the “a familiar smile resurfaces” bit refers to Jerome popping up in the cliffhanger, with more to come when the second half of Gotham season 4 picks up sometime in 2018.
