‘Gotham’s David Mazouz Talks Joker’s Shocking Introduction (Exclusive)

While Jerome may not be the Clown Prince of Crime himself, he will certainly help the Joker come to life on this season. According to star David Mazouz, the twist that introduces the Joker to the series is one of the biggest shocks the fans will have ever experienced.

Ahead of this Thursday’s midseason premiere, Mazouz took some time to chat with us here at ComicBook.com about what’s to come this as the season continues. Of course, as you could probably guess, the conversation was quickly dominated by talk of Jerome’s return.

“Undoubtedly, nobody’s denying this, Jerome looks like the Joker without the pale face and green hair, so what does that mean?,” Mazouz asked us. “I’ll tell you what that means. It means that Jerome is not the Joker.”

The young actor went on to explain that the tie between Jerome and Joker is one that people definitely won’t see coming.

“It really is one of the biggest shocks,” Mazouz continued. “I think it’s safe to say that this kind of transition is not only the smartest thing, but the biggest kind of surprise that Gotham has thrown at its audience. Gotham loves to kind of have a shocker moment. I mean, I’m sure we’d love to have crazy cliff hangers, but this is one that is not even on the same level as anything we’ve done before. I mean, the second I read that in the script, I was like, ‘Oh my God. Yes. That is perfect.’

“We’ve been asking ourselves this question, ‘Is Jerome the Joker? He obviously is acting a lot like the Joker. Is he the Joker?’ This is a perfect way to answer that, because we don’t want to say yes, but we don’t want to say no. We don’t want to say no because Jerome is so much like the Joker, so what they end up doing is kind of a great balanced way to answer that question and to have Jerome maybe be involved in the creation of the Joker but have him not be the Joker.”

In his final comment on the matter, Mazouz made sure to reiterate that Jerome and Joker were not the same person, but he had a very coy way of saying it.

“He [Jerome] is not the man that will have green hair and a pale face. He’s not that man.”

So, who is that man? The answer will be revealed at some point this season.

Gotham returns with new episodes on Thursday, March 1 at 8pm ET on FOX.