Story highlights Fox's Batman prequel has cast four major roles

Robin Lord Taylor will portray Oswald Cobblepot, a.k.a. the Penguin

"Event Horizon's" Sean Pertwee has been cast as Alfred Pennyworth

The new actors will join Ben McKenzie, who'll play Det. Gordon

Fox's Batman prequel "Gotham" has filled four major roles, including The Penguin and Alfred Pennyworth.

The following actors will join star Ben McKenzie ("Southland") as Det. Gordon in the pilot:

• Robin Lord Taylor as Oswald Cobblepot (a.k.a. the Penguin). He's described as having "the brains of a chess grandmaster and the morals of a jackal, Oswald Cobblepot is a low-level psychopath for gangster Fish Mooney who hides his sadistic lust for power behind an exquisitely polite demeanor." Taylor had appearances on several shows, most notably on AMC's "The Walking Dead" during season 4, playing a survivor named Sam who runs into Rick and Carol.

• Next is Zabryna Guevara ("Burn Notice") as Captain Essen: "Gordon's boss at the GCPD Homicide Squad, Captain Essen balances the two worlds of police and politics with a Machiavellian skill that's as much corporate litigator as cop."

• Sean Pertwee ("Event Horizon") as Alfred Pennyworth: "A tough-as-nails ex-marine from East London, Alfred Pennyworth has loyally served the Waynes. Now, in the wake of their tragic deaths, he's fiercely protective of the young Bruce Wayne."

• Erin Richards ("Being Human") as Barbara Kean: "A sophisticated emergency room doctor, Barbara is the fiancée of James Gordon, joyful but with an edge of vulnerability. She stands by her future husband...which can be difficult in a world as corrupt as Gotham."

"Gotham" is billed as an origin-story prequel series to the Batman films from Warner Bros. TV. Bruno Heller ("The Mentalist") wrote the pilot script and will serve as executive producer. Danny Cannon ("Nikita") will direct and executive produce the pilot.

Thoughts? Those descriptions are pretty intriguing. Love the idea of Alfred as a tough solider rather than merely a genteel butler (the DC Comics have a few different versions of Alfred's backstory, but one is that he's a retired intelligence agent).