Gotham's Robin Lord Taylor On Whether The Penguin Will Get Fat

While fans have showered Gotham star Robin Lord Taylor with praise since the series' first season, calling his performance as The Penguin one of the best ever on a comic book TV series, one big detail has stuck in some fans' craw over the years:

Why doesn't he look like The Penguin? Yeah, this is an origin story and all, but...is he eventually going to put on some weight? Somebody asked Taylor about this during Fan Expo in Toronto last weekend, and the star had bad news for comic book purists.

After joking that a recent trip to Paris has made him feel kind of fat already, the star said, "In the time period we are shooting the show, unfortunately he will not get fat."

While the Penguin of the comics is a pot-bellied, sneering crime boss rather than the slender and manic character presented by Taylor, the actor promised there will be some familiar touchstones from the comics coming up, even if he's not going to be packing on the pounds for Gotham's final season.

"What you definitely will see this year is more of the iconography of the Penguin," he told the fan. "Things that you think of the character, we're going to start bringing those in as we're going along....My whole approach this year has been that I don't want to read ahead. I just want to stay in the moment and I'm trying to absorb every single moment I can with these amazing people and this incredible character. So I don't know very much but little pieces we're going to start working through so that I think you'll all be really happy."

In general, it seems as though Gotham is looking to add more and more of Batman's iconography in the coming season, introducing more villains like Magpie and Bane, and giving Bruce a new Batcave at some point before he finally becomes Batman for real. Along the way, elements of Frank Miller's comic book miniseries The Dark Knight Returns will end up in the show, as The Mutants gang are introduced.

Gotham's fifth and final season is set to premiere on FOX in early 2019.