The casting for Gotham Season 3 has been on a bit of a roll, having already cast a more grown-up Poison Ivy and the aunt of famed Bruce Wayne love interest Vicki Vale. Though I am at best a mild fan of the Fox TV series, I'm excited to see how Maggie Geha inhabits the role of Ivy Pepper, but today's casting news makes me even more impatient to see how the show fields the big villain escape that topped off Season 2. The hypnotist named Jervis Tetch, known by Batman fanatics as The Mad Hatter, will appear in Season 3, and will be played by Benedict Samuel.

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Image via Warner Bros.

Most people won't know the name but fans of The Walking Dead's last two seasons will remember the face...and the forehead of Mr. Samuel. Samuel played the main Wolf in the season finale of The Walking Dead Season 5, and became a fixture through a good portion of Season 6, becoming a major foil for the likes of Melissa McBride's Carol, Lennie James' Morgan, and Merritt Wever's Denise, who brought out a crucial humanism in the otherwise savage murderer.


Samuel certainly made an impression on the show as a uniquely complicated, philosophical villain, which would explain why Gotham chose him to play such a distinct villain for both Batman and, more importantly, Jim Gordon, played by Ben McKenzie. For me, it will be hard to enjoy the character as much as I did in the unparalleled Batman: The Animated Series, but with Samuel in the role, my confidence in how Season 3 of the show will proceed has been bolstered immensely.

Here's how the press release describes The Mad Hatter:

DC villain Jervis Tetch is 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.

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Image via AMC
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Image via Fox

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Image via DC