Robin Lord Taylor, Zabryna Guevara (Burn Notice), Sean Pertwee (Camelot) and Erin Richards (Breaking In) have been cast opposite Ben McKenzie in Fox‘s Batman prequel drama series Gotham. Based on DC characters from the Batman universe, Gotham explores the origin stories of Commissioner James Gordon (McKenzie) as an idealistic rookie detective in Gotham City; Bruce Wayne following the death of his parents; and the villains that made Gotham City famous.

Taylor will play one of those villains, Oswald Cobblepot, aka The Penguin. With the brains of a chess grandmaster and the morals of a jackal, Cobblepot is a low-level psychopath for gangster Fish Mooney who hides his sadistic lust for power behind an exquisitely polite demeanor. Guevara, repped by the Kohner agency and Jennifer Wiley Stockton, will play Captain Essen, Gordon’s boss at the GCPD Homicide Squad, who balances the worlds of police and politics with a Machiavellian skill that’s as much corporate litigator as cop. Pertwee, repped by NB Management, Hamilton Hodell and attorney Dale De La Torre, will play a younger version of Bruce Wayne’s trusted valet Alfred Pennyworth. A tough-as-nails ex-marine from East London, Alfred has loyally served the Waynes and now, in the wake of their tragic deaths, he’s fiercely protective of the young Bruce. In the casting notices for Gotham, the ideal choice for the role was described as a young Michael Caine, the actor who played Alfred in the Batman movie trilogy. Richards, repped by WME, Magnolia Entertainment and Curtis Brown in the UK, will play Barbara Kean, a sophisticated emergency room doctor and Gordon’s fiancée who stands by her future husband…which can be difficult in a world as corrupt as Gotham.

Gotham is written/exec produced by The Mentalist creator Bruno Heller, with Danny Cannon directing/exec producing for Warner Bros TV.