For a while there, it looked as though J.K. Simmons would be suffering the exact same DCEU fate as Joe Manganiello, in that he’d been cast in a role he was perfectly suited for, only for his association with the franchise to end in the swiftest possible fashion when Warner Bros. opted to draw a line under the SnyderVerse.
Ironically, both of the actors benefited from Zack Snyder’s four-hour cut of Justice League, which gave them an increased presence in the story and much more to chew on, but it looked as though that would be it. However, in a most unexpected and yet entirely welcome turn of events, Simmons is gearing up for his return to the fold in HBO Max exclusive Batgirl.
Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Academy Award winner admitted his surprise at being asked to make a comeback as the mustachioed Commissioner Gordon, but he’s excited to finally get the amount of screen time that he deserves.
“I was completely flabbergasted they came back to me recently and wanted me to be Commissioner Gordon again and have it be a more significant role. I’m looking forward to it. I think I’m going to get on the horn to [Leslie Grace] and the directors in the next couple of days and do little preliminary rehearsals. They start very soon and I jump on board sometime in January in Glasgow which is a wonderful place to shoot it as it’s Gothic. I’m excited to be the once and future Jim Gordon. I had a long discussion with the guys about how we want to portray him. It’s a really interesting take on introducing Batgirl and fleshing Jim Gordon out.”
Shooting on Batgirl is expected to kick off soon, and anyone who says they’re not excited at the prospect of J.K. Simmons and Brendan Fraser starring opposite each other as a grizzled cop and dangerous villain in a superhero blockbuster is lying through their teeth.
