When two or three hours of your favorite superheroes — and supervillains — just won’t suffice, there’s Gotham. And even if you’ve binge watched through all the past seasons of the Batman back story series, the Gotham season 4 release date is rapidly approaching.
Whether you know Gotham for its retelling of the DC Comics characters from the Batman franchise, Jada Pinkett Smith’s portrayal of Fish Mooney, or sinister shots around New York City, you don’t have to wait much longer to find out what’s going to happen with James Gordon and Bruce Wayne. Scroll to the end of the article to find out the Gotham season 4 release date, or read on for a quick refresher on what happened at the end of season 3. But be warned, there are spoilers coming up.
How the Gotham season 3 finale left things
Despite 10-month-old buzz anticipating the introduction of Harley Quinn in the TV series, she was nowhere to be seen in by the final minutes of the season 3 finale. And Barbara’s electrocution wasn’t a subtle nod to Harley Quinn’s back story, TV line has “been assured.”
Other than that anticipated happening that did not, a lot went down in the final two hours of the TV series’ season. Bruce was swayed into stabbing Alfred with a sword by Ra’s al Ghul, who convinced him to do it by calling on him to be his “knight in the darkness” and fulfill his destiny. Ra vanishes after suggesting that Bruce heal the gaping wound with the Lazarus Pit waters and the aging Alfred is rushed to the hospital.
Meanwhile, the city is fighting the Alice Tetch virus — as is Jim, as he tries to save Gotham from the same virus plaguing himself and track down Lee. In a large scuffle with Fish, some League of Shadows members, Jim ends up stabbing Fish and the vials of concentrated cure for the virus shatter. Jim finally gets his hand of two fresh vials by the end, however, and ultimately decides to prick himself and Lee.
In a trade gone wrong for access to Jervis Tetch, the only way Professor Strange can create more of the concentrated cure, Penguin rushes off with Riddler as a captive. Penguin sets up an elaborate trap that includes letting Riddler think he’s broken out of his handcuffs and has the upper hand. As Riddler tries to recreate his first botched attempt to kill Penguin, Ivy and Mr. Freeze appear, and Riddler is defeated, and frozen.
As if that weren’t enough to absorb in two hours, Tabitha and Barbara have a falling out. Tabitha’s tired of being dismissed as a sidekick and senses that Barbara has killed Butch. Tabitha uses her whip to pull down a spotlight cover in water, which electrocutes Barbara. (Side note: Selina is also tired of being dismissed, in her case by Bruce, so she runs to Tabitha in order to start climbing up through the underworld.)
In a final dramatic reveal, we find out that Butch’s real name is Cyrus Gold or Solomon Grundy and that, despite getting shot point-blank in the head, he appears to be clinging to life — but just barely.
So, when exactly is the Gotham season 4 release date?
You can start teasing out these many, many narrative threads when the series returns to Fox when Gotham season 4 episode 1 airs on Thursday, September 21 at 8 p.m. EST.
