To say that the past few months have been a strange journey for fans of Gotham would be a huge understatement. Despite constant reassurance saying that Jerome Valeska won’t end up as this series’ version of the Joker, our suspicion that he will is seemingly fueled with each passing week.
If you’ll recall, executive producers John Stephens and Danny Cannon teased a time for change on Jerome’s horizon, with actor Cameron Monaghan himself confirming he’s playing two characters this season not long after:
“It’s a very strange thing. Obviously I can’t get too much into what the theory is or what that’s like. I will say that I wanted to make this guy feel distinct and I wanted to make him be visually different, I wanted him to carry himself different, I wanted his voice to be different. I wanted everything about him to be accepted. So that’s a challenge in itself, but also a challenge is, you’re basically acting with yourself. It’s a very weird thing. It’s definitely one of the most challenging things I’ve ever had to do as an actor. It was a bit of a head-trip.”
And while it remains to be seen how that’ll play out, we have Twitter users Jay Warren and Joker Movie to thank for images from Gotham‘s set confirming Monaghan as the Joker. As you can plainly see, he’s pale-skinned and sports a look much, much more in keeping with the character than, say, Jared Leto’s Pimp Joker.
But what mystifies us is the absence of scarring on the Ace of Knaves’ face. Our theory that the Joker is a personality that’ll overwrite Jerome may still end up panning out, but the possibility of Monaghan playing two different people can’t be overlooked.
Either way, knowing an actor so perfectly suited for the role ultimately ends up portraying one of comics’ greatest icons is still a win in our book. Our only hope is that Monaghan keeps delivering dynamite performances once the new status quo is firmly established, but he doesn’t seem like one to let us down.
Gotham airs on Thursday nights on Fox.
Published: Mar 22, 2018 11:58 am