TV Article Fox's 'Batman' prequel casts Jada Pinkett Smith as... By James Hibberd James Hibberd James Hibberd is the former editor at large at Entertainment Weekly. He left EW in 2021. EW's editorial guidelines Published on February 19, 2014 04:00PM EST Fox’s Batman prequel Gotham has signed Jada Pinkett Smith to its cast, but you’ll literally never guess who she’s playing. Catwoman? Harley Quinn? A gender twist on The Riddler or Joker, perhaps? We’re told Mrs. Will Smith will play … “Fish Mooney.” That name should leave even die-hard DC Comics fans scratching their heads. In the show, Fish is “a sadistic gangster boss and nightclub owner, she’s got the street smarts and almost extra-sensory abilities to read people like an open book. Imposing and hotheaded, she’s not one to be crossed.” Fish Mooney also the boss of a young psycho named Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor), who eventually becomes The Penguin (and we all know what penguins eat … right?). The casting marks The Matrix Reloaded and Revolution‘s actress return to TV following the axing of her 2009 medical drama TNT series Hawthorne. Sources close to the production say Fish is likely an entirely original character. But since all the other characters cast so far in Gotham have been names from the sprawling Batman canon, and since this a prequel tale, there’s always the possibility Fish will evolve into somebody more familiar. What do you think?