Bruno Heller Interview – ‘Gotham’ Season Two, The Joker, and New Villains

Bruno Heller Interview - Gotham Season 2
The ‘Gotham’ stars and creative team visited the Warner Bros. booth during Comic-Con 2015 (Photo © 2015 WBEI. All Rights Reserved.)

Fans will get a “good dose of that Joker magic” on this second season of Fox’s Gotham, according to executive producer Bruno Heller. This season is labeled the Rise of the Villains and Heller says the Joker story (including more on his true origin) will definitely be unveiled over the course of season two.

Gotham viewers will also see Mr. Freeze, Tigress (who’s never had an origin story before), and Hugo Strange during season two. “There will also be more ‘comedic’ is the wrong word, but fun villains like Flamingo,” said Heller. “The fun of this world is that you can go from real profound darkness to lightness in the same episode, in the same scene.”


Season two will also find Bruce Wayne (played by David Mazouz) more firmly set on the path to becoming Batman. “It’s tricky because like anyone’s childhood there’s wrong turns and it’s as much about watching David grow into himself and grow older and become a man, and that’s one of the beauties of working in TV is it happens in time. And Bruce Wayne will grow as David grows,” said Heller. “As far as actually translating that to the page, it’s really just trying to be as organic and unforced as possible. He’s already had this traumatic turn so what happens to him in the future is going to be the texture of his life as opposed to a grand epic drama – a secret drama that’s happened outside of the Batman canon. We’re trying to make all of these characters as human and as real and as lifelike and as fluid as possible.”

And about that secret room/Batcave that Bruce discovered at the end of season one, Heller had this to say: “Did your dad have a place in the house that you weren’t allowed into, like a back garden shed? Lots of dads do, and I think certainly Alfred, who had more of a sense of what’s going on in the family, probably thought he’s got dirty magazines down there or a little black book full of old girlfriends, some kind of quotidian secret. I can’t tell you what it is they’ll find down there but it’s a shock for both Bruce and Albert and it sets him off on… If he’s not already set on the path he was on, it redirects him down a much more dangerous and immediate path.”

Also introduced is a key player in the Gotham world: Lucius Fox. “He’s played by a fine actor named Chris Chalk,” explained Heller. “In this telling of the story Lucius Fox is an an old and close friend of Bruce’s father so he has a lot of knowledge about the Waynes before Bruce was involved. It’s the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

More on Gotham Season 2: Ben McKenzie Interview / Robin Lord Taylor Interview / David Mazouz Interview / Camren Bicondova Interview / Morena Baccarin Interview

Watch the interview with Bruno Heller on Gotham season two: