In the Season 2 finale of "Gotham," Fish Mooney opened Pandora's Box and unleashed Hugo Strange's army of monsters on the city. However, that's all according to plan -- the Court of Owls' plan, that is. The third season of "Gotham" will invite in more villains and do-gooders alike, while existing antagonists get even more ruthless than they ever were and a young Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) takes another step forward in his journey to becoming Batman. In anticipation for "Gotham's" return, CBR breaks down everything we know (so far) to prepare you for Season 3.
9 Season 3 Is Off to a Fiery Start
When "Gotham" returns for Season 3, it will be in a hail of fire -- if the titles for episodes one and two are any indication, that is.
Drew Powell, who plays Butch Gilzean, posted a photo of the script covers for the episodes, revealing the titles to be "Better To Reign In Hell..." and "Burn The Witch" respectively. Additionally, the snapshot confirms that executive producer John Stephens and Ken Woodruff will pen the opening episodes, with Danny Cannon directing.
8 Fish Mooney is Back for More
Powell's Butch Gilzean won't be the only one making a comeback in Season 3. Jada Pinkett Smith will also return as Fish Mooney, despite the character's death in the Season 1 finale.
The presumed-dead Mooney resurfaced last season in the care of Hugo Strange at the Indian Hill facility, alive and -- well, revived -- if perhaps not exactly well. "Patient 13" was last seen disappearing into the shadows after commandeering a bus filled with fellow inmates and escaping from Indian Hill. No doubt she and Strange's other test subjects will play a significant role in Season 3.
Cannon also teased the character's dramatic Season 3 entrance with a new photo, which shows Mooney decked out in a villainous costume of her very own.
7 Mad Hatter, Solomon Grundy & More Villains Head to Gotham
"Gotham's" sophomore season was packed to the brim with villains; over the course of Season 2, for example, Edward Nygma found himself becoming the Riddler through his own missteps, Oswald Cobblepot's "family" forced the reformed crimelord into realizing his destiny as the Penguin and Victor Fries' love for his wife led him to transform morally and physically into the ice-cold killer, Mr. Freeze -- and they were far from the only villains to rise. It looks as though Season 3 will follow this example, as Mad Hatter, Solomon Grundy and more head to the show.
"We'll be seeing Mad Hatter in Season 3. We'll be seeing the Tweedle Brothers, too, if we're going to bring the Hatter in. In line with the Court of Owls, we'll be seeing Talon. And, we should be seeing Solomon Grundy," executive producer John Stephens told CBR during a discussion of the Season 2 finale.
Jervis Tetch, aka the Mad Hatter, is a scientist that uses his own mind-control control technology to control the minds of his victims. Though based on a children's book character, the character is sometimes portrayed as being severely mentally ill, with an underlying darkness to him. Former "The Walking Dead" star Benedict Samuel will play the character, who is described as "a talented hypnotist teetering on the edge of madness. He arrives in Gotham with an unwavering desire to find his sister, Alice, a young woman who went missing in the city years ago. It is anyone's guess just how far down the rabbit hole he's willing to go in order to find her."
The "Alice in Wonderland"-themed Tweedle Brothers are criminal twins who have been known to team-up with Mad Hatter, in addition to the Joker. Though they don't tend to have super-powers beyond heightened strength, Tweedledum and Tweedledee headed their own "Wonderland Gang" of thugs using Tetch's mind-control technology in the comics.
Zombified villain Solomon Grundy has made countless appearances in animated DC adaptations, in addition to "Smallville" and "Arrow." A surprisingly old character -- having debuted in 1944 -- Grundy is the corpse of a merchant that was reanimated as a large zombie-like abomination. Aside from his super-strength, it's suggested in the comics that he is indestructible and immortal.
Talon is a fairly new creation from Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's 2011 "Court of Owls" storyline in DC's main "Batman" series. Talon (a.k.a. William Cobb) is a highly-skilled assassin that was sent to assassinate Batman on behalf of the Court. He went on to star in his own series by Snyder, James Tynion IV and Guillem March.
6 Poison Ivy Ages On Up
Clare Foley has officially been replaced as "Gotham's" Poison Ivy. Foley played Ivy Pepper -- who would grow up to become the infamous Batman villain -- in the first two seasons of the show. Though the character started out in the same age range as David Mazouz's Bruce Wayne, it seems the showrunners have other ideas in mind for her. In Season 3, she will be reborn as a 19-year-old villain following an encounter with a "monster from Indian Hill."
In June, casting began for "an actress in her late teens to assume the now-series regular role of the would-be eco-terrorist." The role eventually went to Maggie Geha, an actress in her late teens. Geha's casting announcement promises she'll harness the "full power of her charms" and go after the teenage Wayne.
5 Valerie Vale & Mario Falcone Arrive
"Gotham" has cast a few non-villain characters for Season 3 as well, as both Valerie Vale and Mario Falcone are headed to the series.
Jamie Chung, known by fans as Mulan on ABC's "Once Upon a Time," will play recurring character Valerie Vale. Like Vicki, the character is also described as a reporter for the Gotham Gazette -- a "crackerjack" one "dead set on uncovering the truth behind Indian Hill." She'll be pressuring Jim Gordon for information about the story in season three. Valerie is also Vicki's aunt; that makes sense, as Vicki Vale is traditionally a love interest for Bruce Wayne, a character played by 15-year-old David Mazouz. It's not yet known if Vicki Vale will show up on "Gotham."
Mario Falcone, the son of mob boss Carmine Falcone, is also headed to "Gotham." "The Punisher" star James Carpinello has signed on to play the younger Falcone in a recurring guest role, and his presence will throw a wrench in Jim Gordon's plans to win Leslie Thompkins back. According to the character's official description, "Carpinello's Mario has rejected his family's criminal ways and made a legitimate life for himself as a well-respected, Ivy League-educated ER doctor. He's kind, honest and trustworthy, making him the black sheep of the Falcone clan. But his arrival in Gotham will create major waves in the personal life of Jim Gordon, who at the end of Season 2 left town to find and win back his pregnant fiancee Lee."
4 Penguin Gets Ruthless
Season 3 will be Oswald Cobblepot's next step in his journey to becoming the Penguin.
"When we come back in Season 3, we're going to see not just a return to the old ambitious Penguin who wants to control all of Gotham, but even a step further forward than that," Stephens told CBR. "If you can imagine even a step past what he was doing in Season 1, that's where he is going to be in Season 3. He's moving forward in a very aggressive way."
"I also feel that, by the end of the season, Penguin, more than any other character, is actually motivated by his need for love. First, he needed it from his mother, and then his mother died. Then, he found his father, who filled that void, and then he died. So where is he going to go for it after that? That's why I think he's so sympathetic as the villain. You understand everything he's doing is being driven by his need for love. That is enormous," he added.
Robin Lord Taylor -- who plays Penguin -- agreed with that sentiment in a separate interview, saying, "Oswald will try to be the most powerful man he can be. He learned so much in Season 2. Now he has the means and knowledge, he knows what it is to be the king of Gotham and how difficult it is. On the death of his mother, Nygma told him, 'You're free to do whatever you want now. To love someone is to be weak, vulnerable.' Now he can be as ruthless as he wants. I think he will take that advice."
3 "Gotham" Introduces Some Doppelgangers
"The Flash" won't be the only DCTV show with doppelgangers come fall. In the Season 2 finale, "Gotham" introduced a doppelganger of one Mr. Bruce Wayne, and he has nothing to do with parallel earths or alternate timelines.
In the final moments of the episode, Bruce's long-haired doppelganger steps out onto the street and thanks an old woman for setting them free. This wouldn't be the first time the show has delivered a lookalike foe, though we're doubting the young monster is supposed to be a Clayface-like killer. With the Court of Owls definitely in the offing, the money is on this character representing some variation on Thomas Wayne Jr. -- the never-quite-confirmed brother to Bruce, who played a central role in Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Court-defining series as part of DC's New 52 take on "Batman."
2 Court is In Session
The Court of Owls will rise in "Gotham" this fall. Over the course of Season 2, viewers learned that Hugo Strange was carrying out orders for the Court of Owls -- and unleashing monsters in Indian Hill is just the beginning of their plans. Though they weren't seen too much in Season 2, it appears as though they'll have a bigger presence (and possibly a connection to the Wayne murders) in Season 3.
"The Court of Owls is like an Illuminati," Stephens explained to CBR. "They are a shadowy group of powerful people who have controlled Gotham for centuries. They might, or might not, be behind the Wayne murders. They have financed and directed Indian Hill and Hugo Strange's research. We will not learn all that much about them in the finale, save for the fact they are the people behind Hugo Strange and are most likely the culprits behind Martha and Thomas Wayne's murders. Bruce will learn of their existence, but not necessarily their name. That will obviously push him forward."
As if to prove its relevance in Season 3, the Court features front and center in the Comic-Con International poster, which teases that "all will be judged."
1 The Monster Parade
In the Season 2 finale, a major battle over the fate of Arkham Asylum occupied the majority of the episode, during which time a cabal of mutant freaks created by Hugo Strange on the Court of Owls' orders made a break for it with Fish Mooney at the wheel. While Fish Mooney escaped with her full faculties intact, the last moments of the series let the rest of the squad loose with far fewer Machiavellian smiles.
As a homeless old woman watched a blurry march of mutants spill out of the bus and into the city, viewers get a look at a number of semi-familiar monsters. These include the recently spotted "probably Killer Croc" beast and a wolfish creature that could call back to any number of minor Batman foes (our bet is on a future appearance from C-lister Professor Milo).
"The Pandora's Box gets opened at the end of the episode in a way that is going to have a huge effect in the entire city. The city we return to in Season 3 will be very different than the city we leave at the end of Season 2," Stephens revealed to CBR.
"A lot more of these creatures are going to come out of Indian Hill, who are going to lay the groundwork for a lot of the future Batman villains," he added. "In the very last scene of the episode, we're going to see a twist which is going to up the ante for everything in Season 3."
Starring Ben McKenzie, Robin Lord Taylor, David Mazouz and more, "Gotham" returns to Fox on September 19th at 8 pm EST.