Gotham Season 2: Jada Pinkett Smith to Return as Fish Mooney

Fox’s Batman prequel series, Gotham, established the world of DC Comics’ famous city in season 1, following Detective Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) through the criminal underbelly that introduced villains like Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor) and Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith). Season 2 ushered in a new wave of antagonists for the good guys of Gotham to face, as well as the rebranded run of episodes, “Rise of the Villains.”

When Gotham season 2 returns at the end of February, the show will be rebranded again as “Wrath of the Villains” and welcome new DC Comics antagonists Mr. Freeze (Nathan Darrow) and Hugo Strange (B.D. Wong). Now, we know another villain will be returning from a watery grave when Gotham resumes its second season.

TV Line is reporting Smith will reprise her role as Fish Mooney in multiple season 2 episodes, though they don’t specify an exact number or when the villainess would make her official return. Fish was seemingly killed by Cobblepot in the season 1 finale of Gotham, and Smith’s comments about only signing a one-year contract for the show seemed to indicate she wouldn’t be back.

However, Gotham showrunner Bruno Heller also commented on Fish’s fate, saying “nobody dies forever in the DC Universe, necessarily, so I’m hoping whatever happens at the end of [season 1] that Fish can and will be back.” Additionally, McKenzie recently revealed that all characters who are dead “are able to come back” perhaps teasing Fish’s return – or potentially alluding to other villains that were killed in the first half of season 2.

The concept on resurrection on comic book television shows isn’t relatively new. Arrow has explored both literal and figurative resurrection in its fourth season with the returns of Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) and Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh). The CW series used both mysticism and science to resurrect their characters, but since we don’t know what happened to Fish after Cobblepot pushed her off the roof and into water, we don’t know how she’ll be resurrected on Gotham, whether with the help of Hugo Strange’s experiments or some other means.

That being said, once Gotham begins to resurrect their villains – even if only for a short time – the show’s stakes come into question. If death isn’t permanent, then a character dying doesn’t hold the same weight. But, whether Fish’s return lessens the stakes of Gotham remains to be seen in how the show handles her resurrection. Still, fans who enjoyed Smith’s performance as Fish Mooney in season 1 may welcome her back for the “Wrath of the Villains” in Gotham season 2.

Next: Gotham Spinoff a Possibility According to Fox

Gotham returns on Monday, February 29 on FOX.

Source: TV Line

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Molly Freeman
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Molly Freeman is the lead news editor of Screen Rant and one of Screen Rant’s Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved movie critics. She’s been writing for Screen Rant since 2014 and has appeared on the Total Geekall podcast. Previously, she’s written entertainment news for Bustle and had personal essays published on HelloGiggles and Femsplain.

A graduate of Ithaca College’s Journalism program, Molly originally planned to be a music journalist before moving into entertainment journalism after spending so much of her downtime binge-watching all manner of movies and TV during her formative years. Still, she enjoys every chance to put her music and musical theater knowledge to good use, particularly when it intersects with her love of superhero movies.

Beyond that, Molly spends her free time reading young adult and romance novels, rooting for the New York Rangers hockey team (LGR!) and going out to brunch. Follow Molly on Twitter and Instagram @mollyrockit, or contact her directly: molly(at)screenrant(dot)com.

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