If you haven't been keeping up with Fox's Gotham, we don't really blame you; it's not great. But it is completely insane in a weirdly entertaining way and our own Vinnie Mancuso's episode recaps are a big bat-shaped cherry on top of that madness each and every week. One highlight of the Batman prequel series, this season especially, has been the willingness to include fringe villains alongside the usual rogues gallery. So even when they're not done quite right or differ drastically from their comic book counterparts, it's the closest thing that Bat-fans will get to seeing these characters in the flesh, characters like Solomon Grundy ... and Professor Pyg.

Gotham has certainly come far since the days of the Balloon Man. Professor Pyg, a relatively new character introduced in 2007 in "Batman" #666, will make his live-action appearance for the first time on an upcoming episode. Michael Cerveris (The Mexican) will step into the surgical scrubs and pig mask on the next hour of Gotham, dubbed, "A Dark Knight: Hog Day Afternoon." The Broadway star recently spoke to USA Today about his multi-episode role which will include, wait for it, a musical song-and-dance number. More on that in a moment, but first...

Check out the Professor Pyg promo:

Season Four of GOTHAM will witness the emergence of the criminal landscape for which Gotham City is best known, with JIM GORDON (Ben McKenzie) and HARVEY BULLOCK (Donal Logue) at the forefront of the fight against the most depraved and unhinged villains. While Gotham City fights for normalcy, a new hero will rise, as BRUCE WAYNE (David Mazouz) begins to assume responsibility for the city’s well-being. As the city sinks deeper into chaos, GOTHAM will continue to follow the evolving stories of the city’s most malevolent villains: THE PENGUIN (Robin Lord Taylor); EDWARD NYGMA/the future RIDDLER (Cory Michael Smith); SELINA KYLE/the future CATWOMAN (Camren Bicondova); BARBARA KEAN (Erin Richards), TABITHA GALAVAN/TIGRESS (Jessica Lucas) and BUTCH GILZEAN (Drew Powell). The series also will catch up with the future POISON IVY (Maggie Geha), who, after an encounter with a monster from Indian Hill, finds herself reborn as a young woman who’s harnessed the full power of her charms.

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Image via Fox Television

The Tony-winning actor will arrive on the October 26th episode and he describes his twisted character as follows:

Professor Pyg is a brilliant and chameleon-like person who has a highly developed sense of what’s right and wrong — it just might not be a sense of right and wrong that corresponds with everybody else’s.

His arc will see Prof. Pyg going after corrupt cops he believes to be "pigs" which, surprisingly does not include Jim Gordon, surprise, surprise. However, fans can expect Pyg to keep them on their toes since his ultimate plan won't be revealed until a little later on in the season. His villainy will also lead him to cross paths with the Penguin, which is where the musical portion of this insanity comes in:

“Especially when they had somebody who played Sweeney Todd, they knew the direction they wanted to go.”

Cerveris hopes Broadway fans will tune in to see Gotham and “might give it a look simply because of that, and find that they have a new favorite show.” That would be an interesting cross-section indeed!

Are you excited for the arrival of Professor Pyg? Let us know in the comments!

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Image via Fox Television