‘Gotham’ Season 2: Paul Reubens Discusses His Role As Penguin’s Father, And The Shocking Ending From Episode 16 [Spoilers]

Gotham Season 2 has seen the progression, change, and transformation of many of Gotham City’s major characters. Penguin moved closer to his DC Comics self, Edward Nygma has become evil and schizophrenic, Jim Gordon has succumbed to the dark side, and still other characters have come and gone. Theo Galavan’s reign of terror may have been cut short, due to Penguin and Jim Gordon murdering him, but the aftershocks are still being felt. Jim is in jail and Penguin’s mother is dead. However, Oswald Cobblepot’s father has stepped onto the scene, and actor Paul Reubens has come in to fill the Penguin’s parental void. Reubens enjoyed his stay in Gotham City and called it an “incredible experience,” according to Comicbook.

“It was an incredible experience. It was an incredible situation to jump into. People were freaking out that I was there, that I’d played the role before and had the connection to the Tim Burton Batman universe. It was an amazing thing to come into.[I] felt an enormous amount of love and respect, and people could not have been nicer.”

Fans of Gotham’s Dark Knight, from at least 1989, will recall Paul Reubens’ brief stint as Penguin’s father in the beginning of Batman Returns. Reubens’ happened upon his return to Gotham by chance, as he met with Carol Kane, the actress who portrayed Penguin’s mother prior. Reubens recounted this lunch meeting, as he happened to be in town filming his small role on The Blacklist.

“I was in town working on The Blacklist, and I called Carol to see if she was available to have lunch. She said, ‘I’d love to bring this lovely young man I’m working with that I want you to meet!’ So we met, and had lunch, and halfway through the lunch, I realized they had a little bit of an ulterior motive. They mentioned to me that his father was going to come on soon, and was there any scenario where I’d want to do it, and I said yes immediately!”

The Inquisitr reported a similar account from Robin Lord Taylor, who plays Penguin on Gotham, and both sides are identical. Paul Reubens is most known for his comedy as Pee Wee Herman, though he has had a few forays into drama. Gotham tends to lend itself to the latter, albeit a very dark and crime-filled drama, so Reubens’ comedy didn’t really play out very well, he recounts one such humorous moment at a not so hilarious moment.

“I’ll tell you, when we were shooting the scene, I decided I wasn’t going to die. The first take of that scene, I just decided, ‘I’m not dying.’ So I drank a sip, and drank a few more sips, then downed the glass and poured another one, and said, ‘This is delicious!’ I just went on and on and on, and I looked up, trying not to laugh – I told Robin [Lord Taylor] what I was doing, so he knew, and the script supervisor and the director were looking at each other and the pages – I don’t think they got it! They didn’t get that I was joking around. I didn’t get the laugh I thought I would get. They were just confused and didn’t know what I was doing.”

Reubens hopes this moment will be captured on film, so Gotham fans can enjoy this intentional blooper, and perhaps be more amused than the crew. Paul Reubens may have come and gone quickly, but he would love to come back. Reubens suggested coming back as a ghost. However, Gotham isn’t exactly like The Flash, but it is a comic book show. There’s no reason he couldn’t come back as vision or flashback.

[Image Via Gotham Season 2 Screenshot| Courtesy Of FOX|Cropped|Resized]