Following Gotham’s Season 1 finale, the seedy city is dealing with a crime vacuum. While this is nothing but good news for Oswald "Penguin" Cobblepot - after all, he did shout he was the king of Gotham - there’s still enough room for new criminals to try to seize power, and True Blood star James Frain will be one of these evildoers swooping in on the action when the DC prequel returns later this year.
Deadline is reporting that Frain will be playing billionaire industrialist Theo Galavan in Season 2. He and his sister Tabitha, who hasn’t been cast yet, have been added as series regulars. Theo is described as “sexy, heroic, and lovingly devoted to his sister,” and he'll arrive in Gotham City under the guise of its savior, but he's really working with his sister to elevate the city’s chaos and violence in order to fulfill a centuries-old vendetta. Together, their plan will lead to new villains being created and others being destroyed.
The article also notes that Tabitha will eventually become the supervillain Tigress, an identity used by several individuals in the comics. Going off this description, these two sound a lot like the mystery characters that were announced last month.
Gotham has been taking the approach of establishing Batman’s rogues gallery before the Caped Crusader hits the scene, as opposed to vice-versa. (And they don't mind ending things early for some, as Carmine Falcone is out of the business, and Sal Maroni’s poor manners earned him a bullet in the brain.) Since Theo and Tabitha are original characters, we can’t turn to the comics for clues on where the series will take them, but it sounds like their plan is the next step forward in filling the dreary city with colorful foes for Bruce Wayne when puts on the cape and cowl years later. Of course, Gotham City is only so big, and Theo and Tabitha will eventually face resistance, whether it’s from Jim Gordon and the GCPD or Penguin and the rest of the city’s underworld. As for this old vendetta, methinks something terrible happened to their ancestors in Gotham City that they’re now determined that its inhabitants need to pay for this mysterious crime.
This will be Frain’s second comic book show this year following his role as Leet Brannis in the Marvel series Agent Carter. The actor can currently be seen playing Jeff Hunt on True Detective, and his other TV credits include Sleepy Hollow, Orphan Black, The Tudors, Grimm and more. Although Theo is the first original character announced for Season 2, he is just one of several new villainous faces that will be appearing, including Mr. Freeze, Mad Hatter and Clayface.
Gotham Season 2 will premiere this fall on Fox.
