While Gotham Knights will feature Harvey Dent, don't expect to see him become Two-Face for at least one season. The CW's DC TV line-up is potentially getting another Batman-esque drama for the 2022-2023 TV season. Late last year, The CW put Gotham Knights into development, which has no connectivity with Warner Bros.'s video game of the same title. Like some of the other DC TV shows, Gotham Knights is being structured as an ensemble series that will focus on multiple characters rather than being primarily told through the eyes of one lead.
As Gotham Knights have been adding multiple actors over the last few weeks, The CW is bringing one of the network's fan-favorite stars. Misha Collins, who starred as the angel Castiel on Supernatural for over a decade, boarded the project in March as Batman foe, Harvey Dent. The Supernatural veteran is the latest star to portray the infamous villain in live-action, following actors like Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight) and Nicholas D'Agosto (Gotham.) With Gotham Knights adding Collins' Harvey, it will be the first time in a long time where this particular Batman enemy is a main player on a TV show.
With Gotham Knights getting ready to start shooting its pilot, Collins has revealed some intriguing trivia about his incarnation of Harvey. The actor recently appeared at the Supernatural event, SPN Indy Convention where he had a Q&A panel (via Carrie Novak,) with fans. When one of the audience members asked what he could say about his involvement in Gotham Knights, Collins went in-depth about signing on for the project. At one point, Collins confirms that while Harvey will evolve into Two-Face down the line, it won't be for at least one season, as he stated the following:
“I can tell you that I'm playing Harvey Dent, which is a character from the Batman universe, who becomes Two-Face. I had a little compunction about that because I know my ex will be like ‘Fitting role!’ [laughs] That did actually cross my mind, I don’t want somebody to have such an easy insult for the rest of my life! Warner Bros. seems to be putting a lot into the pilot, it’s great, it seems like it has a great team behind it. For example, our costume designer did The Handmaid’s Tale, like really top-shelf people on the project. If it gets picked up and turned into a series – which would be really cool – my character will be Harvey Dent for the whole first year, so I have a nice long stretch of not being two-faced. And then I become Two-Face! Yeah, I’m looking forward to it and I’ll be the old person on the show!”
Following Collins' casting announcement in March, The CW did reveal a character breakdown for Gotham Knights' take on Harvey, which includes how the show will "tragically transform him into one of Gotham’s most feared supervillains, Two-Face.” It makes sense not to start the show with Harvey already in his villainous form. Most of The CW's DC shows give villains an origin story, just like the heroes. A key part of Harvey's backstory is the inclusion of Sal Maroni, who is the criminal responsible for throwing acidic chemicals into the beloved Gotham D.A., which is how he becomes Two-Face. So far, it hasn't been stated if Gotham Knights will introduce Sal, but they may at a later point.
As Collins humorously put it, Harvey will be the adult figure in the series, and potentially a parent figure for one of the younger characters. One of Gotham Knights' main players is Olivia Rose Keegan, who is set to play Duela, better known to fans as Joker's Daughter in the DC lore. Despite her moniker, Duela is actually Harvey's daughter, and interesting enough, Keegan's casting suspiciously left out Duela's last name. This may have been done on purpose in order to potentially to make her ties to Two-Face a surprise. As Gotham Knights will begin principal photography next week, fans will soon get a better idea of what to expect from this potential series.
Source: Misha Collins (via Carrie Novak)