Actor Robin Lord Taylor’s performance on Gotham has made Oswald Cobblepot, a.k.a The Penguin, arguably the show’s breakout character. Taking place years before Batman started terrorizing evildoers, viewers have watched the young Penguin move his way up through the crime food chain, each step closer to becoming the villain we know so fondly from the comics. However, the actor isn’t just content on playing the waddling, tuxedoed psychopath. He also has his eye on appearing in another acclaimed superhero series.
While playing TV Guide’s What’s Shakin’ game, Taylor was asked which show he would want to appear on other than his own, and he chose a CW show starring a certain Scarlet Speedster. Said Taylor:
I would choose to be on The Flash because I think they're absolutely killing it.
Indeed, they are killing it. Like Gotham, The Flash has been renewed for a second season, and both shows have been among the most popular freshman series for the 2014-2015 TV season. While it would be quite a sight to see Penguin stopping by Central City and interacting with the Fastest Man Alive, there are currently no plans for Gotham and The Flash to exist in the same universe. However, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find a way to include Taylor the actor in the Arrow/Flash universe if all parties are amenable.
It wouldn’t be the first time that someone has played two different DC Comics characters on current shows. Anthony Carrigan, who plays mob hit-man Victor Zsasz on Gotham, appeared as supervillain Kyle Nimbus, a.k.a. The Mist, in The Flash episode “Things You Can’t Outrun.” Another actor who recently double-dipped is Mark Margolis, playing Felix Faust in Constantine and Paul Cicero in Gotham. If DC and Warner Bros put their heads together, they could probably come up with an appealing guest role that would fit Taylor’s schedule.
For now, Taylor has enough to do as Penguin in the mean streets of Gotham City. Before the series went on its hiatus, Penguin had joined forces with Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock to help them secure evidence that connected police commissioner Gillian Loeb to Carmine Falcone. What they found instead was Loeb’s locked-away insane daughter, and Penguin wasn’t able to find any information he could use for himself, though he did secure a favor from Jim Gordon that has no expiration date and can’t be refused. Oh, and he also tricked a woman into killing her husband for a plane ticket before shooting her himself with his last shotgun shell. It’s no wonder he’s one of the best comic book villains on TV right now.
Gotham will return with new episodes on April 13 at 8/7c on Fox.
