Gotham City is still at least a decade from Bruce Wayne protecting it as Batman, but the Gotham series won’t be without a costumed vigilante during its run. Several months ago, it was announced that Azrael would be introduced, and like his comic book counterpart, he would start out as an enforcer for the Order of St. Dumas. However, rather than introduce a new character to play the warrior, Gotham is bring back someone viewers thought had departed permanently, to become him.
Warning: spoilers for Gotham Season 2 are ahead! If you don’t want to know Azrael’s true identity, click on another one of our fine articles.
Leaked photos from the Gotham set showed actor James Frain reprising his role as Theo Galavan, but instead of wearing one of his finely-tailored suits, he had full-body armor and a mask on while shooting an action scene. You can see the pictures over at The Daily Mail, but this does confirm that Galavan will be Azrael, or at least the show’s first incarnation of the character. So rather than continue as the season’s main antagonist, Galavan will be fighting on the Gotham City streets dressed as a caped figure. Considering that he was dead the last time we saw him, the fact we’re even seeing him again is shocking.
In the first half of Gotham Season 2, Theo was working on behalf of the Order of St. Dumas to take control of the city and carry out revenge against the Wayne's, who wronged his family centuries before. With his sister Tabitha, his first act was to break out several Arkham Asylum inmates, including Barbara Kean and Jerome Valeska, to form the Maniax and unleash violence across Gotham City. Publicly, Theo used this chaos to prop himself up and gain support among the city’s citizens, which eventually led to him being elected mayor. Jim Gordon eventually grew wise to his act, and with Penguin’s help, they stopped Theo from killing Bruce Wayne in the midseason finale, but since there was no legal way to stop him, Jim was forced to secretly shoot him.
When we last saw Theo, his body had been taken to the Indian Hill facility. Headed by Dr. Hugo Strange, the program’s purpose is to create the ultimate superhuman, and they’ve been using both corpses and barely-alive patients as their guinea pigs. Indian Hill is set to play a big part in the “Wrath of the Villains” arc, and presumably this means that they will somehow bring Theo back to life. That said, because he’s dressed as Azrael, it looks like the Order of St. Dumas will get their hands on him at some point and turn him into their assassin. So even though Theo will be seen again, he may not act the same way he did as before.
Gotham returns with new episodes Monday, February 29 at 8 p.m. EST on Fox.
