Next week marks the midseason finale of Gotham in the US (Channel 5 are still a few weeks behind, so UK viewers may not notice such a wait for the show’s return in the New Year), and while the first half of the season has been packed full of familiar faces from Batman lore, there are still plenty more to come!

According to showrunner Bruno Heller, there are plans for Robin to show up next year…well, sort of! “We’re going to do a prenatal origin story for Robin down the line. There are no MRIs involved. There’s an episode coming up where we learn how Robin’s parents got together.” Seeing as Bruce Wayne is still only 12 years old, Dick Grayson obviously hasn’t been born yet, but meeting his fairly young parents does make sense.

In the comic books, the young Dick Grayson becomes Robin after his parents – who he performs alongside as a family of acrobats in Haly’s Circus – are gunned down in front of him. Bruce Wayne then adopts him.

Harvey Dent – better known as Two-Face to comic book fans – was recently introduced, and he’s not the only iconic villain who we’ll be learning more about as a young Scarecrow has been confirmed as being on the way. “This is not a kid being a looney Scarecrow, this is a couple episodes about how that character has evolved — everyone’s character is formed in their childhood to some degree or another,” Heller revealed, adding that the focus will mostly be on his father, “as is part of the [comic book] mythology.”

When Gotham launched with a villain heavy first episode, many fans and critics were concerned that they would introduce too many, too soon. After all, bring in some characters too early and they’ll be pensioners by the time Bruce Wayne is old enough to suit up and fight them as Gotham’s Caped Crusader!

This is something Heller was well aware of, and revealed why they were perhaps a little heavy handed with villains during at least the first few episodes of Gotham. “We front-loaded [the show will iconic characters], which we had to do, both for story purposes and marketing purposes. We had to let people know it’s not just a hum-drum police procedural, it’s about these larger than life characters. Once the wheels are turning its much easier to bring those characters in with subtle organic ways. That’s the plan anyway.”

One villain we shouldn’t expect to see in Gotham just yet however is Harley Quinn, a character who Margot Robbie will play in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad. “We haven’t got Harley Quinn in it. Riddler’s girlfriend is coming up. And Harley Quinn is definitely planned for later on, but so far no.” He did however confirm that they’re still planning on bringing in The Joker and that Harley could follow somewhere down the line…