J.K Simmons has been spotted as Commissioner Gordon in set photos from the Batgirl production. The photos see Simmons donning a hat and a trenchcoat covering a suit. There are also photos of taxicabs from the set with the Gotham City logo on them.
Simmons made his debut as Commissioner Jim Gordon in Justice League and Zack Snyder’s Justice League. The character is typically tied to Batman as he works for the Gotham police department and has a secret relationship with the caped crusader. Simmons was supposed to play him in Ben Affleck’s solo Batman movie; however, after Affleck left the project, the film turned into The Batman with Robert Pattinson and is set in a separate universe from the DCEU. Jeffrey Wright will be taking over the role of Commissioner Gordon for The Batman. Other actors who have portrayed the character in the past include Gary Oldman, Pat Hingle, and Ben McKenzie.
It's only JK Simmons filming the #Batgirl movie in Glasgow today. #Batman #JKSimmons #Gotham pic.twitter.com/LtnS6NWDkF
— Peter Being Boring (@MeBeingBoring) February 2, 2022
In a November interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz, Simmons stated that this character would be more directly tied to the plot in Batgirl. This would make sense as Commissioner Gordon has strong ties to the titular character. The character (not to be confused as Batwoman) underneath the mask is Barbara Gordon, the daughter of Jim Gordon. Here, Barabara will be played by Leslie Grace, who previously had a breakthrough performance in 2021’s In the Heights.
Other Batgirl set photos have shown Grace in her superhero costume, and the outfit does look similar to previous iterations of this character. In addition to Grace and Simmons, Batgirl will also star Ivory Aquino as Alysia Yeoh, Brendan Fraser as Firefly, and Michael Keaton as Batman/ Bruce Wayne. Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are directing with a script that is penned by Christina Hodson, who previously worked on Birds of Prey.
Batgirl is expected to premiere on HBO Max sometime in 2022.