There... Might be Too Many Characters in Gotham Season 2

Look, I’m all about comic book ensemble casts, but Gotham, you might be pushing it a bit.

If you missed the first season (which wrapped up a couple of months ago), the basic premise of Gotham is Batman before Batman. It’s set when Bruce Wayne is just a kid, following the death of his parents, and mainly follows James Gordon in his early days as a detective.

A lot of the fun (and some of the frustration) that kept fans tuned into the series was the appearance of a lot of Batman’s future Rogues Gallery, years before they turned into the supervillains we know and love. In Season 1, we saw a younger Penguin, how Riddler went crazy, Two-Face (currently just One-Face) during his time as DA, and kid Catwoman and Poison Ivy to name a few. The series even teased a character who just might be a teenage Joker.

So yeah, a ton of characters so far. That’s why it’s a little bit concerning that Season 2 is premiering in the fall, and we’re getting a lot of new faces, including:

Hugo Strange, as a young professor at Arkham Asylum (who has mysterious ties to the asylum’s construction).
Azrael. In the comics, he took up the mantle of Batman after Bruce Wayne’s back is broken by Bane.
Calendar Man, a villain who really likes dates and calendars (seriously, that’s his entire shtick).
Silver St. Cloud, a fairly minor character in the comics who will be a love interest to Bruce Wayne, with ominous intentions.
Victor Fries, aka Mr. Freeze.
Firefly, a Rogues Gallery villain who likes blowing things up and setting fires.
The Flamingo, a villain who eats people’s faces… because, flamingos?
Amygdala, a villain and later reformed hero who had a piece of his brain called the amygdala removed, causing him to become to super violent. He’s also super strong because reasons.

And, because more is more, there are also a couple of Gotham original characters:

Captain Barnes, a police captain and recent addition to Gotham PD.
Theo Galavan, a billionare industrialist and father figure to Bruce Wayne. Also he’s really evil due to a “centuries-old vendetta.” I’m getting shades of Ra’s al Ghul here.
Tabitha Galavan, Theo’s sister and apparently, Gotham‘s version of Tigress.
Robert Greenwood, a cannibal incarcerated in Arkham Asylum.

Basically, a lot of new characters to introduce and develop. Now I don’t want to be rushing to any conclusions, especially since a lot of Gotham‘s charm was in seeing how they trotted out each comic book cameo, but man, I am apprehensive. How the heck are you going to do characters like Hugo Strange, Mr. Freeze, and Azrael justice, when you’re already balancing a roster that includes a dozen or so Batman regulars? After all, the only major character we probably won’t be seeing back is Fish Mooney, and even that’s not completely off the table.

Also, who the heck asked to see lil’ Calendar Man? Y’all should be ashamed of yourself, that is really not a backstory we need to explore.