While many TV shows are complacent with allowing characters to remain static and unchanged year in and year out, Gotham has no such predetermined plans. In fact, the Fox drama just announced that key Batman villain Ivy "Poison Ivy" Pepper has once again been recast, with actress Maggie Geha being replaced by Mad Men and Frequency actress Peyton List. With all these changes, one has to wonder if Ivy is really part of Ra's al Ghul's lineage.
While Gotham is bringing in Peyton List to play the show's third iteration of Poison Ivy, we likely won't see her for a while, as she'll be showing up at some point in early 2018. Which means the actress will likely be popping up in Gotham City in the back half of Season 4. We're hoping she'll spread her leaves and embrace the show's protagonists as soon as 2018 starts, too.
As it was teased the last time we saw Maggie Geha's Poison Ivy, when she inexplicably downed a handful of mysterious potions just a few episodes ago, the sensuous rogue will be taking on character traits that comic book fans will find more familiar with. Here's how Gotham's producers teased her reformed arrival.
In the continuing evolution of Poison Ivy's origin story, Ivy Pepper has been transformed once again taking another step toward becoming the Ivy we know from the comics. Dangerous. A live wire of crazy energy. She'll set her sights on Gotham, intent on making the city her own green paradise.
Peyton List knows a little something about making life hell for comic book good guys, too. In The Flash's early seasons, she recurred as Lisa "Golden Glider" Snart, whose return has been clamored for by that show's fans. That likely won't be happening anytime soon, though, since she's taking on a more iconic role in the DC-verse. (She also played Lucy Lane for a pair of Smallville episodes.)
Aside from those and the other aforementioned series, Peyton List has also made her mark over the years on series such as As the World Turns, where she got her big break, as well as Flashforward, The Tomorrow People and Blood & Oil. She's unfortunately had several of those more recent series getting cancelled after a single season -- with Frequency being the most recent -- but Gotham likely isn't going away anytime soon.
Poison Ivy was previously played by Clare Foley as the young version through the first two seasons, and Maggie Geha as the reformed beauty for Season 3 and early Season 4. And Ivy is hardly the only character going through changes, as we've already seen a memory-wrecked Riddler, a resurrected Butch as Solomon Grundy, a less maniacal Babs, and a Bruce Wayne taking the dark road to Batman-dom. We can't wait to see what else is on the way.
Gotham brings the mayhem to Thursday nights on Fox at 8:00 p.m. ET. While we're waiting for Poison Ivy's return, check out our fall premiere schedule to mark down what other shows are on the way.
