Some comic-book fanboys said it couldn’t be done, but Fox’s Batman-without-Batman show Gotham has managed to create the perfect Dark Knight series by taking a bold approach to the source material’s most iconic characters (mostly the villains, let’s face it).
Fox renewed the show for a fifth and final season shortly before its season four finale – that featured a major death – and promised that it will “wrap up this unique origin story of the great DC Comics Super-Villains and vigilantes”.
So here’s everything you need to know about the concluding season of Gotham.
Gotham season 5 UK: Where will we be able to see it?
Gotham has had a bit of a weird ride on UK screens. The first couple of seasons showed on Channel 5, then season three turned up on Netflix, before season four showed on E4.
It’s so confusing that it led fans to think they’d forgotten an entire season of the show.
We’d expect season five to also broadcast on E4, but maybe that’s just us being optimistic that Gotham‘s chaotic schedule (seriously, did the Joker plan this?) will start to finally find some consistency next year.
Gotham season 5 release date: When’s it out?
Despite every other season landing in mid-to-late September, Fox confirmed in May 2018 that we’d have to wait until 2019 for our final trip to Gotham City.
The last ever season will premiere on FOX in the US on Thursday, January 3, 2019.
UK viewers have usually had to wait for episodes to arrive, with season four kicking off on April 10, 2018, only a month or so before that season wrapped up in the US.
If season five will be on E4, the channel usually waits until after a show’s midseason break so they can show it uninterrupted. If that’s the case, don’t expect season five in the UK until summer 2019.
It’ll be a shorter season than usual, though not as brief as initially thought. Though the earlier word was that Gotham‘s swansong would be just 10 episodes long, that was later extended to 12. Whoop!
Gotham season 5 plot: What will it be about?
Gotham producer Danny Cannon has described the final season as something of a “reboot”.
“The cataclysmic event that happens in the last three episodes [of season four] not only will change Gotham,” Cannon said. “It not only combines so many characters that you don’t think will co-operate with each other, but it changes the face of Gotham forever, so that season five, it’s almost a reboot and a different show.”
Set three months after season four’s finale, the fifth season opener ‘Year Zero’ will pick up “after the bridges have been blown and the government has disavowed Gotham … people are fighting for survival,” according to showrunner John Stephens.
After The Killing Joke and No Man’s Land stories were both brought to life in season four, the final season will feature New 52 comic Zero Year which saw Batman in his early stages try to stop the Riddler from taking over Gotham City.
It will also bring the more classic Batman villains into the fold, quite possibly including Harley Quinn, with Stephens revealing that Jeremiah (Cameron Monaghan) now “has a somewhat deranged girlfriend, who dresses in a multi-coloured fashion”.
Though originally planned to be part of the season, the Ventriloquist was eventually cut from the final episodes. (Tragically, so was Condiment King.)
Bruce Wayne actor David Mazouz has already revealed how he wants the series to end, with every character as their “full-blown” comic book counterpart.
Good news for Mazouz: Stephens has said that Bruce will “go all the way” towards becoming Batman in the final episodes, donning a new suit as he comes ever closer to wearing the cape and cowl.
“We are gonna get to see him make the final steps, you know? We are not gonna leave anything on the table or whatever the phrase is,” he explained. “There are not going to be any steps for Bruce Wayne to take to becoming Batman that don’t get taken this season,” Stephens insisted.
(And yes, the word “Batman” will actually be uttered on-screen.)
In order to account for Bruce’s transformation, the very last episode will leap 10 years into the future.
Gotham season 5 cast: Who’ll be in it?
It doesn’t take the world’s greatest detective to guess that season five will involve Ben McKenzie as the young Commissioner Gordon, Donal Logue will be reprising his part as Harvey Bullock, David Mazouz will definitely be back as a young Bruce Wayne (but not Batman – yet), and Sean Pertwee will return as Bruce’s butler and mentor Alfred Pennyworth.
Cory Michael Smith is returning as Edward Nygma, a.k.a the Riddler. Oswald Cobblepot / the Penguin will also be back, with Robin Lord Taylor reportedly donning a fat suit to more closely resemble his comic book counterpart.
Camren Bicondova will also be back as Selina Kyle alongside Erin Richards’as Barbara Kean (who’s rocking a whole new look) and Morena Baccarin as Leslie ‘Lee’ Thompkins.
The Riddler and Lee fatally stabbed each other in the season four finale, but death is merely a blip in Gotham, so we imagine they’ll be back and probably better than ever once Hugo Strange (BD Wong) gets his hands on them.
Oh, and you can also expect more from the Joker – just don’t expect him to be called that. Danny Cannon was asked if the show would finally start referring to Jeremiah as The Joker, and he gave a pretty clear (if slightly odd) answer.
“I don’t think so, no,” Cannon said. “This is an origin show about the beginnings of everything, therefore we just wanted to do the beginnings of why.
“When we first did the pilot, we were trying to create a world where someone like Batman would be necessary, and that’s what we’ve done these last four years. If you want to survive as a villain in Gotham, you’ve got to think big.”
(It does look as though Jeremiah will be sporting a look closer to that of the comic book Joker, though, as revealed by Sean Pertwee in a now-deleted social media post.)
Bane will also be emerging in Gotham‘s final run, with the character’s arrival being leaked by way of an episode title (5×08, ‘I am Bane’) in August.
Shane West, known for starring in Nikita and ER, was eventually confirmed to be playing the hulking menace. This version of Bane is Eduardo Dorrance (Bane’s father in the original comics), a former friend of Jim Gordon who returns to Gotham “leading a team of elite soldiers with the goal of helping Gordon restore order to No Man’s Land”.
However, his intentions are “much darker and more evil than [Gordon] could have believed”.
We got our first look at Gotham‘s Bane in late October.
© Goff Photos
Gotham season 5 Netflix: Will it go to the streaming service?
There’s a very good chance that season five will eventually be streaming on Netflix in the UK, with all four previous seasons already available. As soon as we get confirmation, we’ll throw it in here faster than Bruce can toss a Batarang.
Gotham season 5 trailer: When will we see it?
Though there’s no new footage yet, a Halloween-themed video recapping the events of season four’s Joker Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska storyline revealed this season’s subtitle ‘Legend of the Dark Knight’.
It’s official: Batman’s beginning is coming to an end.
Gotham airs on Fox in the US and E4 in the UK.
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