Season 5

"Witness the End of Gotham."

—The tagline of season 5

Season 5 (also known as Legend of the Dark Knight)^[2] is the fifth and final season of Gotham. It was renewed on May 13, 2018 and premiered on January 3, 2019.

Synopsis

With Gotham on the brink of total anarchy and cut off from the outside world, only Jim Gordon, Bruce Wayne and a handful of heroes remain behind to retake the city. Inspired by the “No Man’s Land” arc from the comics, villains including Penguin, the Riddler, the Sirens and Jeremiah have taken claim on various regions of the city. Will order be restored, or will chaos reign in Gotham?

Cast

Main Cast

Ben McKenzie as Jim Gordon (7 episodes)
Donal Logue as Harvey Bullock (6 episodes)
David Mazouz as Bruce Wayne (7 episodes)
Morena Baccarin as Lee Thompkins (2 episodes)
Sean Pertwee as Alfred Pennyworth (6 episodes)
Robin Lord Taylor as Oswald Cobblepot (6 episodes)
Erin Richards as Barbara Kean (7 episodes)
Camren Bicondova as Selina Kyle (7 episodes)
Cory Michael Smith as Edward Nygma (6 episodes)
Jessica Lucas as Tabitha Galavan (1 episode)
Chris Chalk as Lucius Fox (4 episodes)

Recurring Cast

Francesca Root-Dodson as Ecco ( 5 episodes)
Cameron Monaghan as Jeremiah Valeska (4 episodes)
Jaime Murray as Theresa Walker (3 episodes)
Hunter Jones as Will Thomas (3 episodes)
J.W. Cortes as Alvarez (3 episodes)
Kelcy Griffin as Vanessa Harper (2 episodes)
Andrew Sellon as Arthur Penn (2 episodes)
Shane West as Eduardo Dorrance (2 episodes)
David W. Thompson as Jonathan Crane (1 episode)
Peyton List as Ivy Pepper (1 episode)
Anthony Carrigan as Victor Zsasz (1 episode)
BD Wong as Hugo Strange (1 episode)
Benedict Samuel as Jervis Tetch (1 episode)

Production

Gotham was renewed for a fifth and final season on May 13, 2018.^[3] On June 4, 2018, it was announced that season 5 would only consist of 10 episodes instead of the usual 22.^[4] On October 29, 2018, it was revealed that the final season has been expanded from 10 to 12 episodes. The series finale will mark the show's 100th episode.^[5] As a result of the shortened season, the showrunner John Stephens stated that "We move really quickly. We tried to build out the character moments as well. Sometimes we've had so much plot that we had to squeeze out some of the character stuff and now that it's the last chance we have to be with these characters, we're letting them live in these moments."^[6]

The No Man's Land arc was planned three years in advance, although they intended it to be an "inspiration", rather than a religious adaptation of the comic book storyline. The series finale remains mostly unchanged to the way it was planned out when the show began with Season 1, although there were some modifications: "When I came on the show in season one, [creator] Bruno [Heller] pitched me what he saw the ending as and it's very close to that, his initial idea." Due to it being the final season, the showrunners felt an added responsibility to satisfy the fans and to address any unanswered questions from the previous seasons.^[6]

New additions to the cast include Shane West as Eduardo Dorrance,^[7] and Jaime Murray as Theresa Walker.^[8]

Episodes

#	Episode name	Directed by	Written by	Original airdate
1	"Year Zero"	Danny Cannon	John Stephens	January 3, 2019
Jim Gordon and Bruce Wayne face the chaos Gotham City has become. Their mission to keep the city safe becomes more complicated, as the villains who survived the attack on the city begin to resurface and claim various territories. Meanwhile, Selina Kyle grapples with how to deal with her uncertain future.
2	"Trespassers"	Louis Shaw Milito	Danny Cannon	January 10, 2019
Gordon and Bullock investigate a location where several kids have been kidnapped. Barbara proves to be an unlikely ally to Gordon. Meanwhile, Bruce looks into an alleged witch with healing powers for Selina, and Nygma deals with demons of his own.
3	"Penguin, Our Hero"	Rob Bailey	Tze Chun	January 17, 2019
With the creation of Haven as a safe place for refugees, Gordon hopes to stop the gang-fighting in Gotham. Selina is determined to find Jeremiah and convinces Bruce to help her. Meanwhile, Penguin goes to Haven to reclaim his staff.
4	"Ruin"	Nathan Hope	Chad Fiveash James Stoteraux	January 24, 2019
Gordon and Penguin are forced to work together and alliances are shaken when Lucius, Nygma and Barbara all have different ideas of the culprit behind recent events at Haven. Meanwhile, Selina continues her quest for revenge against Jeremiah.
5	"Pena Dura"	Mark Tonderai	Iturri Sosa	January 31, 2019
A military task force, led by Eduardo Dorrance is called in to provide relief to Gotham. Meanwhile, Nygma looks for answers from Penguin, who leads him back to Hugo Strange. Then, Bruce is concerned about Selina's recent behavior.
6	"13 Stitches"	Ben McKenzie	Seth Boston	February 14, 2019
Gordon assembles an unlikely team to protect Gotham from Eduardo Dorrance and his Delta Force. Just as Lee Thompkins resurfaces, Barbara reveals shocking news that will change Gordon's life forever. Meanwhile, Selina and Penguin team up to outsmart fellow villain Magpie.
7	"Ace Chemicals"	John Stephens	Tze Chun	February 21, 2019
Gordon races to uncover the criminal element threatening to end talks of Gotham's reunification with the mainland. A very much alive Jeremiah returns and organizes a twisted recreation of the murder of Bruce's parents with the help of Jervis Tetch.^[9]
8	"Nothing's Shocking"	TBA	Seth Boston	February 28, 2019
Bullock's past comes back to haunt him when he and Gordon investigate two murders at Sirens. Meanwhile, Bruce and Alfred explore the tunnels beneath the city, and Penguin and Nygma's plans to escape are thwarted by the least likely of suspects.^[10]
9	"The Trial of Jim Gordon"	Erin Richards	Ben McKenzie	March 7, 2019
After Gordon is shot in an attempt to establish a cease-fire, he hallucinates a trial for his life that could have deadly real consequences. Meanwhile, Ivy returns and puts her spell on Bruce, leaving Selina to defend herself. Lee has a life-changing moment as Barbara and Penguin consider their next moves.^[11]
10	"I Am Bane"^[12]	TBA	TBA	2019
11	"They Did What?"^[13]	Carol Banker	Tze Chun	2019
12	"The Beginning..."^[14]^[15]	TBA	John Stephens	2019

Confirmed Plot points

Bruce will become Batman in this season.^[16] He will use the image of a bat to strike terror into the criminals after encounter a large swarm of bats.^[17] In the series finale, Batman will wear a matte, metallic short-eared battlesuit that showrunner John Stephens compared to the The Dark Knight Rises batsuit.^[18] David Mazouz will provide close up shots and the voice for the character, however a stunt double will fill in for distant shots in order to fit with the character's grown up appearance.^[19]
According to Camren Bicondova, Selina Kyle's Catwoman costume will be more grounded in reality and won't have cat ears.^[20]
According to John Stephens, the final season will take influence from the comic book arcs No Man's Land, Zero Year, and at least one other unspecified storyline that he says "if I tell you what it is it really does spoil the story."^[21]
Sharing a common goal, Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, and Lucius Fox will become the "strongest team" of the season, with Alfred training Bruce and Lucius providing him with gadgets. This will propel Bruce's transformation into Batman.^[22] Bruce will infiltrate various gangs that have taken control of the city, adopting different disguises in the process.^[23]
Cameron Monaghan added that there will be a major confrontation between Bruce and Jeremiah Valeska.^[24]
New villains include Ventriloquist, and Lady Shiva.^[25]^[26]
The episode Ace Chemicals includes the return of the chemical plant of the same name, as well as Jeremiah Valeska, Ecco and Martha Wayne, who reappears in some form and is used in a plot against Bruce. This episode also includes the final appearance of the Wayne Manor study set.^[27]^[28]^[29]
Prior to Season 5's production, executive producer John Stephens stated that Jeremiah is a precursor to the Joker, who is some where in Gotham "anonymous and unformed, and he's watching the actions of Jeremiah and Jerome and possibly even another one, adopting them as inspirations as the person he'll one day become.^[30]
- In January 2019, he elaborated that Jeremiah will undergo a massive evolution but will never see a full transformation into the Joker, stating that we will instead see an amalgamation of both Jerome and Jeremiah, "You never see a full transformation into the Joker, but you do see another transformation, Jeremiah undergoes another evolution in his character to become another amalgam of Jeremiah and Jerome that I think audiences are gonna look at and say, 'If it's not the Joker then it's definitely an antecedent or a proto-Joker that lives there.'"^[31]
- Monaghan called Jeremiah's final scene in the series "vicious, nightmare-fuel horror."^[32]
Cameron Monaghan has hinted towards making an appearance in the ten year time jump, "I have a couple moments this season, especially deeper towards the end... I will say that the final episode of the season there’s some stuff that I’m really excited for. I’m champing at the bit to get to that."^[33] In another interiew, he stated that his favourite character that he has played is "the one in the final episode that we haven't seen yet", indicating the introduction of a third character.^[34]
- When Cameron Monaghan was directly asked in an interview whether or not Gotham will be able to fully use "The Joker", he had this to say, "For now. That was the case when I talked about it prior.. All I’ll say is when you have an episode that’s a full-on Batman episode running around in the future, you’re going to have characters that you’ll expect to see. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say at this point that it’s 10 years in the future — that’s been talked about openly by the producers and showrunners — I don’t want to say exactly what my role in that is, but it was kick ass." ^[35]
- In the same interview, he stated that the third character is not a biological triplet of Jerome and Jeremiah, "Not triplets! No secret other twin. we’re seeing a very linear story arc with Jeremiah. Our point A is where we left off last season and our point B is a huge jump and I can’t wait for people to see it."^[34]
Jim Gordon will debut his iconic mustache from the comic books in The Beginning....^[36]
The Penguin will don his traditional top hat and monocle from the comics,^[37] while the Riddler will wear his traditional question mark suit.^[38]
Mad Hatter will don a teacup holster and a top hat with little playing cards as an allusion to his iconic comic look.^[39]
Arkham Asylum will return in The Trial of Jim Gordon or The Beginning....^[40]
There are three time jumps in Season 5. The season premiere opened 391 days after the events of "A Dark Knight: No Man's Land", before settling back at 87 days. Later, the series finale will jump ten years into the future, where Batman is an established figure.^[41]