When Gotham was first announced, it was billed as a cop drama taking place in the famous DC Comics city. A few of the players would be established comic book characters, but the majority of the drama would be focused on the GCPD, as James Gordon attempted to solve the mystery of Thomas and Martha Wayne's murder.

However, those plans quickly evolved. Before long, the series had become a showcase for Gotham City's biggest and baddest characters. Of course, viewers quickly learned that the television series wasn't too keen on following the Bat-mythos to a tee. Instead, Gotham offered us a very different spin on the Batman universe and its classic storybeats.

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Many of everyone's favorite Batman villains have appeared on the show in some capacity, from the Penguin and Riddler to the Mad Hatter, Mr. Freeze and Scarecrow. But though he has yet to appear on the show, the Joker has been a part of Gotham's DNA ever since its first season. Up until very recently, the predominant Gotham theory held that the Joker was Cameron Monaghan's Jerome Valeska. However, Bruce Wayne actor David Mazouz recently revealed that Jerome was in fact not the series' Joker. "He’s definitely the inspiration for the Joker," Mazouz said, "and the way that the Joker comes into the show, for me, is one of the most brilliant things Gotham has ever done."

The bombshell revelation is surprising to say the least, considering that much of the audience had come to accept Valeska as Gotham's Joker. Now that we know that he isn't, however, it's time to declare that the Joker teases have simply gone on too long.

Monaghan's Jerome was introduced back in the Season 1 episode "The Blind Fortune Teller," in what appeared to be a one-off appearance. Back then, he was just a young man with a haunting laugh and an unsettling smile. Monaghan's Jerome struck a chord with the viewership, and he was brought back in Season 2, this time in a recurring capacity. Essentially, the character was loosed upon the city, free to unleash his own brand of mania and terror. For all intents and purposes, this was the Joker. His performance borrowed from every famous Joker portrayal, from Cesar Romero and Heath Ledger's iconic takes on the character, to Mark Hamill's signature voicework on the animated series.

The actor was never made a series regular, but his sporadic appearances would only increase, much to the delight of fans. In fact, with each subsequent appearance, it seemed like Jerome was allowed to be even more Joker-like than the last. In fact, it seemed like the series was even borrowing some famous and iconic elements from the Clown Prince of Crime's mythology, from the Carnival Fun House, to the skin of his face being cut off and later re-attached, to the arrival of a permanent smile in the form of facial scars. On top of that, in true comic book fashion, Jerome proved that even death was not the end for his character. Somehow, he managed to come back from the morgue and haunt Gotham City once more.

Now, we are asked to believe that this has all been building to the eventual arrival of the Joker. The problem is that most fans had already welcomed Monaghan as the newest actor to embody the villain. The notion that he is but a stepping stone to the 'real deal' not only lessens all the time we spent investing in his character, it also undercuts the real, future Joker's importance and significance to Gotham's world.

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Whatever the series' plans are moving forward, there is no way that someone else can now take the mantle of Jerome. A new character will only come off as a copycat, someone only trying to emulate a character whom we already bought as Gotham's Joker. In short, his impact on the city will be lesser, considering that everyone will only see him as someone cut from the same cloth of a villain they've already dealt with.

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Now, back when the series was still in its infancy, the producers teased that the story of the Joker would be multiple choice, that there would be various Joker potentials running around the city. And that was true... For a time. There was a failed club comedian, the Red Hood Gang, a gang of Jerome's followers, and Jerome himself. At the time however, no one, not even Gotham's producers, likely foresaw Jerome catching fire the way he did. As the nature of the series evolved and changed, so too did we believe the show's approach to the Joker was changing as well.

Gotham going full Joker with Jerome led audiences to believe that the series had stopped with the pretenses. Now, we're back to playing a guessing game. Who is the real Joker going to be, and what will Jerome's role be in all this? It just comes off as an unnecessary snag in a tapestry that was increasingly well-knitted.

What's more, Jerome has also established a relationship and a rivalry with Mazouz's Bruce Wayne, as well as much of the series' cast. Next, he is set to face-off/team-up with the Penguin inside Arkham Asylum, something that DC Comics fans had every reason to be excited about. Robin Lord Taylor's Oswald Cobblepot is an equally lauded performance on the series, and his now-iconic Penguin clashing with Monaghan's Jerome/Joker was something that fans were looking forward to. Two of Batman's most famous villains, brilliantly portrayed, interacting together is something that even Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy never did. But now that we know that Monaghan isn't Joker, that excitement has dwindled. All of the progress made to establish the character as part of the series' cast, and making us believe we were experiencing the first true joker origin story, has been for naught.

Whatever the next phase of Gotham's Joker plan is, it's simply a phase too many. The next logical step would have been to have Jerome fall into a vat of chemicals after clashing with a young and inexperienced Bruce Wayne in a proto-Batman suit -- not for him to pass the baton to someone else entirely.

Returning from its midseason hiatus March 1 Fox, Gotham stars Ben McKenzie as James Gordon, Donal Logue as Harvey Bullock, David Mazouz as Bruce Wayne, Robin Lord Taylor as Penguin, Cameron Bicondova as Selina Kyle, Erin Richards as Barbara Kean and Sean Pertwee as Alfred Pennyworth.