Gotham star Sean Pertwee has shared a new photo from the set of season 5 to his Instagram account, featuring himself, David Mazouz and Cameron Monaghan, posing with some fake magazines made for the show. Intriguingly, however, the actor soon deleted the post, which is likely to do with the fact the trio are in costume in the pic and it gives us a better look at Monaghan’s new outfit as Jeremiah Valeska than the series’ producers want us to have at this point.
Since his twin brother Jerome died, Jeremiah’s become Gotham‘s proto-version of the Joker and in this shot he looks more like the classic image of the Clown Prince of Crime than he ever has before. You can check out a screenshot of Pertwee’s original post below and note Jeremiah’s dark green hair, striped trousers and distinctive purple gloves.
Though all the signs are pointing to the character becoming the one and only Joker in season 5, that’s definitely not the case. Monaghan has previously explained that the show simply doesn’t have the clearance from DC execs to officially tackle the supervillain, what with him being used on the movie side of things. This even extends to not being allowed to properly feature the Joker’s bright green hair.
As such, the writers have been forced to get creative. Showrunner John Stephens has revealed that, in Gotham‘s world, the actual Joker from Batman lore is still out there somewhere, becoming inspired by the antics of Jerome and Jeremiah and their thirst for chaos and clownery. “He’s adopting them as inspirations as the person he’ll one day become,” Stephens explained.
Despite this, it looks like Gotham season 5 will feature an episode called “Ace Chemicals,” which surely suggests that the installment will capture the moment the Joker’s born by falling into a vat of acid and gaining his bleached skin and permanent smile. But will it be Jeremiah who falls into the vat?
We’ll find out when the 10-part fifth and final season of Gotham arrives on FOX next January.