‘Gotham’ Makes ‘Strange’ Casting of B.D. Wong as Batman Baddie

The other day, FOX’s Gotham significantly upped its Batman quotient with the announcement of its Mr. Freeze, today doubling down with the addition of a younger Hugo Strange. Law & Order and Jurassic franchise vet B.D. Wong will suit up as the nefarious Strange, and that’s great! It’s also terrible, but great!

Per USA Today, Wong will crop up in Gotham Season 2 for the recurring role of Hugo Strange, a brilliant professor and psychiatrist tapped to head up Gotham City’s notorious Arkham Asylum. Of course, Strange also has a nefarious streak, conducting experiments on inmates and testing extraordinary abilities in order to create superhuman folks for the same Wayne Enterprises “Indian Hill” glimpsed in Monday’s “By Fire.”

On the one hand, it’s great to see Gotham thinking outside the box, non-traditionally casting a notable comic character like Hugo Strange, historically portrayed as Caucasian. On the other hand, what’s an actor of B.D. Wong’s caliber doing on Gotham? This is the same series that just yesterday acknowledged it has no idea what it’s doing with Harvey Dent, let alone tossing another villain into the mix. From TVLine:

Where is Gotham‘s Harvey Dent? Isn’t he supposed to be around more this year?
Dent (played by series regular Nicholas ‘D’Agosto) resurfaces this Monday in “Mommy’s Little Monster,” and from there on will appear “on and off,” says EP John Stephens. “We’re not playing any full Harvey Dent stories right now, but he’s a part of our world, that’s for sure.”

Still, it’s at least of interest to see Gotham moving into more recognizable Bat-characters like Mr. Freeze and Hugo Strange, figures that might actually make sense in a pre-Batman context. In the meantime, Gotham continues to stumble through its second season with this coming Monday’s “Mommy’s Little Monster,” but what should we make of B.D. Wong’s Hugo Strange?

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