In an episode of Gotham Season One, Cameron Monaghan was introduced to us as a character named Jerome Valeska. Many assumed he would eventually evolve into The Joker. However, during the show's second season, we see him apparently being killed by James Frain's Theo Galavan at the Gotham Children's Hospital Gala.
But those who are familiar with the Fox series must know that death doesn't necessarily mean the end for a character. Thanks to B.D. Wong's Hugo Strange, a number of dead characters have already been resurrected. The finale of Gotham Season 2 teased the return of Jerome in a similar fashion, and this was later confirmed by executive producer John Stephens.
Now, while speaking to Slash Film, the show's co-executive producer Ken Woodruff re-confirms that Cameron Monaghan's character has "got to come back". And not only that, he insists that Jerome could still end up becoming The Joker in Gotham!
When asked whether they killed off Jerome to deflect speculation about his becoming the Clown Prince of Crime, here's how Woodruff responds:
Jerome was always supposed to be the inspiration for The Joker. Maybe he'll go through an evolution that'll end up becoming the actual Joker that we all know. The whole idea was that he was supposed to be the inspiration for it.
If Jerome himself doesn't become The Joker, would someone he interacted with take up the mantle? The producer responds in the affirmative and adds:
That's the fun of it and that's what we want to see.
We already know that Gotham Season 3 is replacing Clare Foley with Maggie Geha as an older Ivy "Pamela" Pepper, who would eventually evolve into the supervillain Poison Ivy. Woodruff addresses the character's transformation during the interview:
What we really wanted to accomplish, for me especially and for some of us in the room, one of the core elements that Poison Ivy brought, one of her core powers was this ability to seduce. It felt like it was more easily accomplished with the sort of aged up, older Ivy, and it wouldn't be off-putting. It was just one of those skills that we were like it was an opportunity we were missing out on. Not only does she change when she comes back physically, but mentally she's much, much further down the line in terms of getting close to the canon Poison Ivy that we all know.
During the interview, the producer also confirms that Morena Baccarin's Leslie Thompkins is coming back for the whole season.
