Gotham EP Discusses Cataclysmic No Man's Land in Season Finale

Jeremiah did the unthinkable in Gotham’s penultimate episode, "One Bad Day." In scene ripped from the pages of the graphic novel that inspired the episode, Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's The Killing Joke, the sadistic villain shot Selina Kyle point blank in her stomach, right in front of Bruce Wayne.

And somehow, the worst is yet to come.

In tonight’s Season 4 finale, "No Man’s Land" (named after the comic book arc), Jeremiah plans to detonate a number of massive bombs and level the city. However, there could be a method behind this madness. It appears Jeremiah and Ra’s al Ghul both want to push Bruce to his limit, to force the young billionaire to embrace his destiny as Gotham City crumbles around them.

Ahead of tonight's massive finale, executive producer John Stephens spoke with CBR about adapting the "No Man’s Land" story arc for Gotham. Stephens also opened up about the impending mass destruction, how it will affect the characters (or, at least, those who survive), and what villains fans can expect to debut in the series' fifth and final season.

CBR: How much are you actually borrowing from the comic-book version of "No Man’s Land" for the finale?

John Stephens: Quite a bit. In terms of the cataclysmic event that causes "No Man’s Land," we borrow half of it. Added to that is how it plays out in Season 5. Obviously, Batman is a huge part of that run in the comics. In our world, it’s going to be more about how the city gets divided up into the different sections, and how Jim and everyone navigates that world.

Where do the Sirens fit into the episode?

We are going to see the resolution of the Ra’s al Ghul/Barbara Kean storyline we have been building over the course of the year. They will be partnering with Penguin for a while as they find common cause as the old-guard gangsters of Gotham, as opposed to the new lunatics like Jeremiah. Also, Tabitha is going to become involved in the final attempt to cure Butch.

The Gotham finales never pull any punches. What are you excited for audiences to see in this one in particular?

Part of it is the idea that not everyone is going to survive. That’s always part of it, and they aren’t going to be regenerated. Seeing who is going to live and who is not going to live is always exciting. There is going to be at least one significant part of the Batman mythology introduced. I think you get to see some really incredible performances from our core cast. Cameron Monaghan does an unbelievable job as Jeremiah. I think he’s terrifying, and that adds one more facet to our version of the Joker.

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Lee recently told Jim that he should basically be free from the shackles of the law. How deeply do those words resonate with him?

It resonates with the idea for us of planting the seed that is going to play out more in Season 5. We are building towards the idea of Season 5 essentially being No Man’s Land, our version of it from the books, in a place where the only law Jim is going to follow is going to be his decision of where the law is going to be. He’s always struggled where the line is going to be. We wanted to put him in the position where the line is only what you decide it is going to be. Lee’s words are going to be an echo that is going to reverberate as he pushes that line further and further back.

How are these circumstances going to further push Bruce and some of the other characters towards their destined alter egos?

In different ways. With Bruce, he’s forced to once again make a choice, after the cataclysm hits Gotham and it becomes No Man’s Land, to stay on to fight for the city. That sets him up for who he is going to be next year in Season 5, where he’s going to have to really learn to juggle different identities inside the city, and deal with the idea of wearing masks and which mask is the real mask.

For Jim, it’s going to set him up in a situation where the law is whatever comes out of his mouth, whatever he decides is the law. With Barbara, she steps forward and creates her little Amazonian side of Gotham, where no men are allowed. It’s going to set her up for a different trajectory next year.

The other one is Selina. Something huge happens to her in the last few episodes that sets her up for becoming quite a different character in Season 5 -- I’d say a different side of who is going to be the eventual Catwoman that we haven’t seen.

Who is on your bucket list for villains next year?

There are a whole bunch of characters I want to see that I feel the viewers at large aren’t fully aware of, like Scarface or Ventriloquist. There’s a great dark version of that character somewhere out there who I would like to see come out. Some characters we know we want to see are Mother and Orphan. We want to see Lady Shiva. We are going to see all those characters in Season 5.