GCPD is getting a new captain with Michael Chiklis’ Barnes, but what’s he like? Does he fall on the light or dark side of the spectrum? Chiklis and executive producer John Stephens teased what to expect as Gotham season 2 continues with the Rise of the Villains at New York Comic-Con.
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Watch the video interview with Michael Chiklis and EP John Stephens:
Here are the highlights:
- Barnes is a force of nature who “comes in as a counterbalance to the Rise of the Villains,” according to Chiklis. He “refuses to acquiesce to temptation of that slippery slope of ends justifies the means law enforcement.” He wants to get the bad guy, but he wants to get him in the right way.
- Barnes sees Gordon as “the hope and future of law enforcement in Gotham,” but he also sees that he’s going down the wrong road.
- Barnes does have “a bit of darkness in his past.”
- The law is his “touchstone” and “his way of combatting anything that might harm him.”
- Season 1 had more stand-alone episodes, but season 2 is “fully serialized” with one big arc. With that change, Stephens explained, they could give more time for the villains.
- In the “elevated world” of Gotham, “all of our normal characters are very grounded emotionally,” the EP said. “The villains can then bring a level of …. heightened reality.”
- They live by the noir adage, “you look into the darkness and the darkness always looks into you,” Stephens shared. They put everyone on that spectrum of light and dark, and the goal is to move everyone to one side or the other. Some people go into the dark and stay there while others manage to pull themselves out. Barnes is someone who falls into the latter category.
Gotham season 2 airs Mondays at 8pm on FOX.
(Image courtesy of FOX/Video: Meredith Jacobs)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
If it’s on TV — especially if it’s a procedural or superhero show — chances are Meredith watches it. She has a love for all things fiction, starting from a young age with ER and The X-Files on the small screen and the Nancy Drew books. Arrow kicked off the Arrowverse and her true passion for all things heroes. She’s enjoyed getting into the minds of serial killers since Criminal Minds, so it should be no surprise that her latest obsession is Prodigal Son.
