Another not-so-guilty pleasure that we have on television at the moment is FOX’s GOTHAM. Taking an “origins” approach to the Batman franchise, we see not only the rise of a young Bruce Wayne but also the entire menagerie of baddies that he’ll come to fight once he’s the caped crusader. The show is a super stylized and gritty mystery cop drama and it’s completely infectious.

That’s why we made the trip to the Hilton Bayfront for the GOTHAM panel during San Diego Comic-Con and it did not disappoint.

It’s not terribly uncommon for a large portion of a cast to join but for this show, basically THE ENTIRE cast of primary and secondary characters were present including Ben McKenzie (Jim Gordon), Michael Chiklis (Captain Barnes), Robin Lord Taylor (Penguin), Camren Bicondova (Catwoman), Cory Michael Smith (Riddler), David Mazouz (Bruce Wayne), Sean Pertwee (Alfred Pennyworth), Erin Richards (Barbara Kean-Gordon), Morena Baccarin (Leslie Thompkins), Jessica Lucas (Tabitha), Drew Powell (Butch), and Chris Chalk (Lucius Fox). And because that wasn’t enough people for one stage, the panel also included Executive Producer John Stephens and Executive Producer/Director Danny Cannon.

There should be a lot of interesting developments this season as we last left off with all the expeirments of Indian Hill being let loose by Fish Mooney. It looks like things are not going to shape up well for Captain Barnes in the upcoming season with the worst of the worst from Gotham now on the loose. Morena also revealed that we will find that since losing her baby, the distance from Jim has forced Lee to move on with her life and she may in fact have a new love interest.

Perhaps the most exciting confirmation from Cannon and Stephens was that Jerome, AKA the Joker will be one of the returning characters to the show. As we saw with Fish Mooney, death is not a barrier in Gotham.

Camren touched on her new relationship with the character Ivy (now portrayed by Maggie Geha) who will now be older than her and the once caring relationship between them will have apparently soured. We will also find that Butch, Barbara, and Tabitha are running the club now Sirens. Cory also shared that Riddler is still locked up but getting attention from Penguin and Michael Chiklis teasingly joked about a bromance (or more) between the two.

David said that he’s excited to see Bruce start to come into his own this season getting more physical as he begins and developing into the Dark Knight. And while they haven’t ruled it out completely yet, Cannon and Stephens said that for now there’s no plans to introduce Ra’s al Ghul.

At the end of the panel Ben McKenzie pulled a random name from all the people who asked questions and that lucky winner received a trip to New York for a GOTHAM set visit. Once there that winner will also have the opportunity for a drawing to win a million dollars. Lucky bugger!

GOTHAM returns to FOX this fall on September 19, 2016.