Gotham‘s series finale has been in the books for quite some time now, but we’re still getting new glimpses at how the episode came together. Ben Bornstein, who previously worked in the show’s makeup department, recently shared a piece of concept art of Jeremiah Valeska/Joker’s (Cameron Monaghan) final makeup on the show.
Videos by ComicBook.com
While the photo isn’t a complete analog for how Monaghan looked on the show, it does provide a fascinating peek behind the curtain as to how that design came to be. The show’s final Joker look was initially met with a bit of scrutiny when it first debuted, but a lot of fans remained hopeful about how the character would be fully adapted.
“We all know the character that some people think he is, some people say he’s not–that he’s supposed to be a precursor to at the very least,” executive producer John Stephens said before the finale. “So, when you look at the Joker, and you break down elements of his personality, and you cleave off certain character traits. Some of those character traits we gave to Jerome. Some of those character traits we gave to Jeremiah. But, there were still some leftover character traits that we said, we haven’t used these elements yet. Specifically to me, horror or terror. I feel like there are elements of the Joker, some iterations of him, which he’s not just a clown prince of crime, but he’s actually a nightmare. And I feel like… some of those remain to be explored.”
“One of the themes of the show has always been about the evolution of identity and how fluid it is.” Stephens previously told ComicBook.com. “And how people can always change themselves from one identity to another. Those obvious examples are obviously like Bruce Wayne, Batman, that view of the world. One of the things we like to do on the show is take that theme and see how it plays out in different fashions with different characters. So, especially with Cameron Monaghan‘s character, first with Jerome and then to Jeremiah, then from Jeremiah to this new character. Obviously, we were always saying that this character is not the Joker but we were always saying what are different elements of the Joker that we can actually use and bring out and develop? Weighing the way you can look at and say, hey, this character may not be the Joker but we can imagine how this character could have lead to a character like the Joker, down the road somewhere.”
What do you think of this new look at Gotham‘s Joker? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
