The new TV take on Batman, Gotham, is certainly making some interesting casting choices. The latest name added to the roster is Jada Pinkett Smith.
She’s been hired for a very different role from some of her recent work, because she’ll be Fish Mooney, a sadistic gangster who thrives thanks to her street smarts and terorrises her underlings with her short, brutal temper. Pinkett will be the boss of one Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor), himself quite the psychopath and the man who will become the Penguin.
Gotham flips the calendar pages back to Bruce Wayne’s youth, and since he’s still in his pre-Batman years the plot instead focuses on the younger Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie), seen here as a fresh-faced detective on a path to become Commissioner. Other actors appearing include Donal Logue as Detective Harvey Bullock, Zabryna Guevera as Captain Essen (Gordon’s boss), Erin Richards as Barbara Kean (Gordon’s fiancée) and Sean Pertwee as Wayne’s butler, Alfred Pennyworth.
Drawn, as always, from the DC Comics universe, Mentalist creator Bruno Heller is in charge of the writers’ room and CSI veteran Danny Cannon will direct the pilot. Assuming all goes to plan, the show should hit screens later this year.