Tonight’s Spring Premiere episode of FOX’s Gotham will reveal “How The Riddler Got His Name” which means it’s a big chance for Cory Michael Smith‘s character Ed Nygma, first introduced in the series pilot, to shine.
At the Wondercon convention in Anaheim, California, we were able to talk with Mr. Smith a bit about whether or not he expected his character to come this far in just three seasons.
“I certainly hoped so [that it would happen],” Smith enthused. “If I was still twiddling my thumbs being a giant nerd at the GCPD I’d be bored out of my mind.”
The actor actually credits the show with giving Nygma such a great story that it seems to have developed nicely. “I think it’s actually been quite a slow burn. He’s changed drastically, I guess, but we’ve spent a lot of time with him in his ‘normal’ life working at the GCPD, which we haven’t done with most of the villains we’ve introduced. It’s felt to me like he was genuinely ready to kind of jump out of his skin,” Smith said.
For those who haven’t been keeping up with the series, Smith teased what’s happened so far and what we can expect to see in the April 24 episode.
“He’s killed his best friend and he’s killed the Mayor, and he’s killed the only person that was his mentor, and the only person that really could have guided him into a path of villainy. And so he has two options: He can continue on and be the Mayor by proxy until there’s a new Mayor, and then what happens to him, I don’t know, and also, that’s kind of and unremarkable and uninteresting story. Every villain wants credit for the thing that they’ve done, and so, the other option is [to] take credit, move forward with the life that you had intended, without him, and figure it out,” he teased. “That’s what the episode is about: How do you do that?”
You can see video of our interview below, where the actor also talks about the Nygma/Penguin interaction on Gotham, and more. Photos from “How The Riddler Got His Name” can be found here.
