Gotham: Cory Michael Smith Talks Riddler Evolution

Gotham’s Edward Nygma, Cory Michael Smith, has been overshadowed a bit by the comeuppance of The Penguin and Jim Gordon’s meteoric rise to the top of the food chain. That looks like it’s going to change in Season 2.

Or at least be better. Smith recently talked about what’s in store for the Riddler and his ‘Jekyll and Hyde’-like transformation.

"He’s someone who wants to be a good person, but is failing miserably. No one understands him or appreciates him.When we pick up, we’re picking up right at the end of Season 1 for the most part. Afterwards, we move along a couple of weeks. Jim Gordon (Benjamin McKenzie) is kind of displaced, and then we realize when we meet Ed that Ed has been spending a couple of weeks in a similar state that he was in for those final episodes, except way more distressed. He’s been talking to himself. He’s cracked open. He’s literally cracked, and from his bruised head, what has emerged is what I like to think of as his ego and his id. These two fractions of him are battling. One is the Edward we know, and the other is the Edward who wants to be the Riddler. He certainly is not the Riddler you know."

"Nygma talks to himself. He hears voices. Do you feel there is a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde dynamic there?Absolutely, there is. What the writers have done, which is so exciting, is make these two parts of him so real, but it’s clearly just all in his head. As much as we’d love embracing the comic book element of the show, what’s so terrifying is how clear both of these identities are. It’s just this conversation with him. This person comes and goes very quickly.It’s an aggressive older brother encouraging Ed, or coaching Ed, on how to get the very things that he wants, which is power, love and sex. It’s all the things that any normal male wants, but Ed doesn’t know how to get them. This other person is both encouraging him and taunting him and reprimanding him."

What does Season 2 hold for Nygma?

"We’ll certainly be exploring a very rich, emotional life of Edward that we haven’t seen at all, which has been really thrilling for me as an actor. I’m excited for that. The writers have given me so much to dig into. We’re going to see this person grow and change. In the very first chunk of this season, as things are changing and he’s listening to this other version of himself, he might even be making some friends at the G.C.P.D. This person, who was absolutely irritating and annoying, is getting trained socially, and adapting. Perhaps he’s losing a little bit of his intense awkwardness. He’s growing up a little bit and learning to communicate, learning how to talk to people and lie to people, and use them as he needs. He’s being socially trained."

Gotham Season 2 premieres tonight on FOX.

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