The fifth and final season of Gotham is in full swing, and the pieces are falling into place for characters to embrace their destinies as iconic heroes and villains of Gotham City. We've known for a while that the series is going to end with Bruce Wayne as Batman via a flash-forward, but that raised the question of whether David Mazouz would be able to don the cape and the cowl. Although the 17-year-old actor has grown a great deal over the course of the series, he's still not quite Batman-sized.
Well, Gotham showrunner John Stephens explained the way that David Mazouz will be featured as Batman without requiring viewers to suspend a whole lot of disbelief, and the solution was surprisingly simple. At the winter TCA press tour, Stephens revealed this:
This is going to sound evasive, but I'm going to say yes and no to that question because both happen to be true. Because David is a strapping young man, but our Batman suit is for someone who is 6'4", and yet the face that you see under the cowl is 100% David Mazouz's face. And we'll hear David's voice as well, in his own Batman growl.
Apparently, Gotham's Batman suit was built for somebody over six feet tall, and presumably larger than David Mazouz overall. The show was never going to be able to feature Mazouz as the man in the full suit unless it ran for far more than five seasons; fortunately, the young man who has been bringing Bruce Wayne to life on the small screen for all these years will still get to be the Dark Knight, via voice and face beneath the cowl.
That's good news for fans who have been on this journey with him and for Mazouz! It would have been a shame if he never got to be Batman in some form or other, especially considering how he has grown into the role. Who could have guessed that the child actor from Season 1 would be able to tackle Bruce's growing darkness by the end of the series? Good casting, Gotham!
News that David Mazouz will only play part of Batman in the flash-forward leads me to wonder if other roles will be partly recast for scenes set in the future. Ever since Ivy was aged up, Selina is really the only one of the original kids still in the mix, and Camren Bicondova could probably sell an adult Selina in the right lighting and costuming.
I wouldn't be surprised if the flash-forwards are used to introduce some new kid actors. Did Babs and Jim make a baby Batgirl earlier this season? And did the appearance of the Graysons from way back in Season 1 mean that a Robin is on the way? Unfortunately, we'll have to wait and see. Season 5 has been so wild so far that it's difficult to predict what can happen by the end when each week throws new twists and turns!
We finally met the Gotham version of Bane, and he'll be doing something awful to one of the good guys at some point. Jeremiah seems to become more and more like the Joker with each passing appearance, and Bane is hunting Jim via a mind-controlled Riddler thanks to Dr. Strange's fiddling with his brain. Oh, Gotham. Never change your crazy ways.
New episodes of Gotham air Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Sadly, the end is nigh for the series, although that does at least mean the debut of Batman is in the not-too-distant future. For some upcoming viewing options not set in Gotham City, check out our midseason TV premiere guide.
