Fox’s Gotham returns for season three on September 19, 2016.
Drew Powell Interview:
Where do we pick up with Butch in season three?
Drew Powell: “At the start of season three Butch is back with Penguin and that dynamic duo is up to no good as usual. He and Tabitha have split. Sad sack, love-torn Butch is back. I think the writers just love messing with Butch in that way. He’s definitely still carrying a torch for her, so we’ll see what happens with that. There is a very cool storyline that’s happening with Penguin that kind of mimics what’s going to be happening in real life, at least here in this country, that’s really neat to see. It’ll be fun to see how long Butch and Penguin stay together and what happens from there. There’s also kind of a battle that Butch will have with another character that I won’t say down the line that’s going to be very cool as well.”
Butch kind of goes where the criminal wind blows.
Drew Powell: “Danny Cannon told me the greatest little tidbit at the beginning of season two. He said, ‘The thing about Butch is he’s a survivor. He will find a way. He’s survived in Gotham this long by finding the haven and figuring out who’s going to be on top, being resourceful, being loyal when he needed to be.’ And, it’s really true. If you look over the course of the first two seasons, that’s been the thing.
One of the fun things looking back is when Butch came on the scene everybody’s like, ‘Oh, he’s just a dumb henchman.’ People didn’t pay him much mind. And by the end of season one, he’s as much responsible for the way that Gotham ends up as anyone by accidentally shooting the love of his life. And so, it’s been fun to play that in season two and then season three’s going to have a whole new group of players. Also, not having a character who was in the canon…Butch is a clean slate so it’ll be interesting to see if they keep going that way or if they turn Butch into a character from the canon at some point. I don’t know.”
Will he ever come into his own or will he always be subordinate to someone?
Drew Powell: “I don’t know. That’s a good question. One of the cool things I liked about season two was there’s a moment where Tabitha and Butch get together and they both kind of realize that they’re better as a team. Tabitha had her brother; Butch had Penguin or Fish. Once they were on their own, they didn’t like it that much and I thought that was kind of cool. Not everybody always has to be on top. Not everybody has to be the boss. You know, everybody finds their niche. But, you underestimate Butch at your own peril, that’s for sure.”
He’s had a taste of power and now with Penguin back, will there be a power struggle?
Drew Powell: “Well, I think that there’s another dynamic that will come into play with their relationship that will cause a lot of stress on that relationship. That’s going to be a lot of fun to play. I will leave it at that, but I can tell you it’s going to be a neat little triangle.”
You don’t have to do research into the comics, but have you?
Drew Powell: “Yeah, I have some. This has been a real fun thing for all of my comic book friends because they are eager to give me advice on what to read and what to check out. The Long Halloween was one of the first ones that they said, ‘You need to, especially as a gangster, read that one.’ So, I read that. I’ve been paying attention to the movies and rewatching some of the movies. That was really my entry point to Batman were all the movies – Michael Keaton and all that. Because I think the TV show which I grew up watching all of those reruns is kind of another entity. It’s hard to compare. It’s great in its own right, but it doesn’t have much to do with the Gotham that we’ve got. So, when your homework is checking out comic books, it’s a pretty good deal.”
Watch the full Drew Powell interview:
