With the subtitle of Season 3 being “Heroes Will Fall,” the Fox series Gotham is sure to have a lot in store for its characters, both hero and villain. While at Comic-Con to chat with fans, the cast and executive producers stopped by the press room to hint at what’s to come.

During roundtables, executive producer John Stephens, along with cast members Ben McKenzie (“Jim Gordon”), Sean Pertwee (“Alfred Pennyworth”), Michael Chiklis (“Nathaniel Barnes”), Cory Michael Smith (“Edward Nygma”) and Morena Baccarin (“Leslie Thompkins”) talked about new characters, the return of familiar faces, Jim Gordon’s emotional state of mind, new love interests, the Bruce Wayne/Alfred dynamic, the new path for Barnes, and the trajectory for Ed Nygma. We’ve compiled a list of 15 things that you should know about Season 3 of Gotham.


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    The subtitle of the season, “Heroes Will Fall,” is indicative of what they’re doing with Bruce Wayne, Jim Gordon and the other heroes of Gotham.
  • The next season will be delving into the world of the Court of Owls, which will be a long arc over the course of the season. They will be drawing from canon, but also adding to it. The show will be putting a face on the Court of Owls, in a way that has not been done before, and you will see people inside of it who have influence in the world of the show. They are the force behind everything.
  • Season 3 will bring a new Poison Ivy to Gotham. The show’s take on Ivy will be different from what is in the comic books. She’s mentally and emotionally still like a 14 or 15 year old girl, who’s suddenly in the body of a 25 year old woman. She’s not the femme fatale that she will later become. She will be spending time finding her way through that. She also doesn’t have powers, but will develop an interest in plants and what they can actually do. She will also learn how to pull men in.
  • The Mad Hatter will also be causing a great deal of havoc. The version that they’ve exploring is one of the more realistic versions. He is someone who has a deep, and perhaps too deep, love for his sister, named Alice, and his love for her will damage him. It’s less about mind control and more about bringing the dark part of everyone to life.
  • In regard to Jerome, executive producer John Stephens said, “In Gotham, you can’t keep a bad man down.”

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    At the start of the season, Jim Gordon is riddled with guilt from all of the things he’s done and witnessed, over the course of the last two seasons. He headed off to find Leslie Thompkins and does so, but things don’t go well for them, as she’s moved on.
  • Gordon has a new love interest in Valerie Vale, that starts as a professional relationship, and Lee also has a new love interest in Falcone’s son.
  • Ben McKenzie said that Jim Gordon is no longer with the GCPD and is disillusioned with the whole situation. The monsters that were unleashed, at the end of Season 2, are running amuck in Gotham and Gordon is now a bounty hunter, chasing those monsters down, for a price. He still has a certain morality, but it’s very far away from when we initially met him.
  • According to Sean Pertwee, in Season 3, Bruce Wayne is actually getting along with Alfred and listening to him, for a change. Bruce will start to learn how to be a gentleman and gain skills that he needs, like dancing, sewing, horticulture, cooking and fighting. There will be a lot of sparring between the two.
  • Gordon no longer feels as much of a responsibility to Bruce Wayne to figure out his parents’ killer because Indian Hill was the breeding ground for what ultimately manifested in their murder.

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    Harvey Bullock is Gordon’s one conduit to sanity. Bullock has been in some pretty dark places in his own life, and is often happy to drift in those places, but wants Gordon to pull it together. At the end of the day, Bullock is a grounding force for Gordon and keeps him from falling over into the abyss.
  • Michael Chiklis said that what’s happening with Barnes in Season 3 is why he signed on to play the role. After having been terribly injured, Barnes is a depleted, weakened guy who’s watching Gordon spin out of control while still trying to keep up the good fight.
  • Something crazy will happen with Barnes in Episode 4 of this season, and that will start him down a very different path that will completely change his relationship with Gordon and everybody.
  • Cory Michael Smith is aware of the season trajectory for Ed Nygma, but he’s still in Arkham when the season picks up. Once he figures out how to get out of there, then the fun will begin.
  • Ed Nygma is not yet The Riddler, but they’re working to that point. He has an idea of who he is and a confidence that he’s found.

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