How ‘Gotham’s Jeremiah Was Influenced by Horror Icon Hannibal Lecter

For the better part of four seasons, Jerome Valeska tormented the heroes of Gotham with his manic brand of chaos, seeking to completely unravel the city, thread by thread. But Jerome is now dead, and the villainous torch has been passed to his twin brother Jeremiah, who is quickly becoming much more terrifying.

Instead of the cackling insanity of Jerome, Gotham is now faced with the calm, collected, meticulous evil of Jeremiah. An evil that feels oddly familiar for movie fans.

This week, ComicBook.com had a chance to sit down with Gotham‘s own Cameron Monaghan, who plays both Jeremiah and Jerome, to ask about his transition from one to the other this season. The two are clearly very different characters, and Monaghan said that the newer, more dangerous Jeremiah was heavily influenced by the infamous fictional serial killer, Hannibal Lecter.

“One of the main characters that we modeled Jeremiah from is Hannibal Lecter,” Monaghan told us. “​There are a lot of moments that made Hannibal Lecter so terrifying. [One] in my opinion, was even though he was the one in the cage, he was the one locked up under key, for some reason, because of his intelligence he was always the one who had control. He might have been in the cage, but he was the one who had all the cards and carried all the weight. That is something that Jeremiah has. No matter how this guy is backed into a corner, he plans for contingency and he is intelligent enough that he knows how to manipulate and hurt people. He can take control. He has power in those certain situations. It is something that is really spooky. I’m excited for people to see some of these scenes because I think there is some really great moments in them.”

For those who aren’t familiar, Hannibal is a very well-to-do, high class serial killer, who enjoys cooking and eating his victims. Sir Anthony Hopkins made the role famous when he played Hannibal in 1991’s Silence of the Lambs, taking home the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Various other actors have played the character over the years, but the most notable outside of Hopkins is Mads Mikkelsen, who portrayed a younger version of Mr. Lecter in the fan-favorite TV series, Hannibal.

If this comparison is any indication as to what we can expect from Jeremiah as Gotham continues, it’s safe to say that the evil has only just begun.

Do you see a bit of Hannibal Lecter in Jeremiah? Will the character become the most evil villain in Gotham‘s history? Let us know what you think by dropping a comment below!

New episodes of Gotham air on Thursday nights at 8pm ET on FOX.