GOTHAM Could Kill Off Established Characters
According to Gotham showrunner Bruno Heller, some of the established characters in the fantastic series may not make it through the series alive. You’d think that many of these main characters from the comic universe would be safe, but when he was asked about this in an interview with EW, he offered a surprising answer. This is the question that was asked:
“Before Gotham premiered there was some discussion about how the show cannot kill any members of its cast of iconic characters, since the story is a prequel. And you had a great reply to that by saying, 'It’s sad thing if you can only generate suspense by killing people.' I’m wondering now that you’ve dug more into the season and are juggling all these characters, with some being more interesting than others, whether there’s a part of you that’s like, 'You know, what if we did?' Or is it just iron clad that you can’t deviate that far from canon?”
This is Heller’s unexpected reply:
"I wouldn’t say it’s iron clad. You’d need a damn good reason to do it and a damn good end game to justify it. We’re certainly just learning the ropes at this stage. Not to be modest about it, but we’re still learning how to do a show this big. I’m always deeply reluctant to kill off characters simply for the shock value of killing them off. I’m not averse to cheap tricks. But apart from anything else, this season literally every actor has come through and [performed really strong]. I would hate to lose any of them. Killing off Sean Bean in the first season of Game of Thrones made everyone go, “Oh, what a good idea that is!” But I don’t think it’s a good idea if you’ve got Sean Bean. The bad one was on Deadwood, when they had David Carradine doing that marvelous Wild Bill Hickok, and then he was gone."
I really like that they would consider killing off established characters in the series. It will mix things up a lot, and make this show its own thing. If they are looking to set themselves apart from the rest of the canon, this is the way to do it. Just don't kill off Penguin, and it would be kind of awkward if they killed off Bruce Wayne.